I Need You
by Lexar
Summary: Hinata runs away to avoid an arrange marriage, but leaves a letter behind for the new Hokage, Naruto, to read. What will Naruto do to get Hinata to come back? How will he stop the arrange marriage? Will Hinata even want to go back home?
1. Ch 1: The Letter

**Me:** Hey! This is a new fanfic that I thought of while getting ready to take a shower.  
**Naruto: **Weird place to get an idea in...  
**Me:** What was that?  
**Naruto:** Nothing... (cowers in corner)  
**Me: **As I was saying before... I got this idea and it originally was supposed to be a oneshot, but I decided it a full fledged story! So I hope you enjoy it :-)**

* * *

**

**Ch. 1: The Letter**

_**Dear Naruto,**_

_Run. That was the only thing on my mind. After everything that happened, I need to run. My legs and my heart burned with the desire to run. I am sorry I can no longer stay. I am sorry. I truly want to see you finally achieve your dream of being the Rokudaime, but if I stay any longer I will never be able to find happiness. I just want to give you this letter, so you could understand what is going on right now, and my reason for running away. _

_I guess what I should say first is that I never wanted to leave Konoha, but my family gave me no choice. I am sure Tsunade has told you about my arrange marriage, since it will be happening after you become the Rokudaime. I will understand if I am marked as a missing-nin, but you have my word that I will never do anything to harm anyone from the Hidden Leaf Village. I love my home, and it breaks my heart to leave it, but I must. If I stay…I will just be the way I used to be. Too weak, too shy, too worthless. I need to run, Naruto, and I hope you won't think any less of me for doing so._

_The reason for my leaving is the arrange marriage between Akito Narumi and myself, but I am sure you knew about that. I am also sure that you most likely do not know why. The reason for our marriage is that his blood line limit would greatly benefit the Byakugan if were to somehow combine them. In other words the Narumi Clan and the Hyuga clan hope to combine the Byakugan with the Gyugan, the Narumi limit that allows the user to control a person's blood flow with their eyes. Imagine the possibilities! I understand that with the Byakugan's insight and the Gyugan's power to control could create the ultimate blood line limit, but everyone can't see to see why I don't want to marry him! Everyone is too wrapped up on the power that could be created. I am sorry, but I do not want me or my future children to be used as tools in their game of power. Also, I don't love him and I never will. I love someone else who now I can never be with. That will be my only regret in life…_

_I will not tell you where I am going because frankly I do not know myself. I guess I'll just keep believing in myself, just like you, Naruto. _

_I also wrote this letter to congratulate you on becoming Hokage. I say this now because I won't be there in person to congratulate you, so I am now. I guess I can take solace in knowing I am the first person to congratulate you even though I can't tell you in person, so I will tell you what I think. I think you will make an excellent Hokage. You are strong and caring. These two traits of yours will be the key to your success, and I am sure you will be the most revered and famous Hokage that will ever live. You will surpass the fourth with no trouble at all, because you have this ability to change people for the better. I know I have changed because of you. I used to be shy and weak, but you saved me from myself. I also believe that you gave me the strength to do what I am doing now, which is finally living my own life. Thank-you, Naruto, you have no idea how much that means to me._

_I also wanted to tell you that I love…_

_That I love y…_

_I love…no I guess I shouldn't tell you. It would just make it harder for me to leave. It is already hard enough. _

_I guess instead I'll just make one final request, when my father discovers I am gone, he will probably make Hanabi marry Akito, so I beg you please don't let him! She will be miserable with him just as I would have been. Please prevent my father from forcing any Hyuga member into marriage. I do not want them to end up like me. I care for them too much to wish this upon them. Please protect them from what would have been my fate. _

_Thank-you for everything you have done for me. You have done so many things that you do not even know about. Just by simply smiling you saved me, so never stop smiling because your smile brightens my whole world. Just knowing that you are smiling will help me get through this._

_I wish you the best of luck with life and love. I hope you will be happy._

_**Love,**_

_**Hinata Hyuga**_

_**P.S**__. Do not come after me. Just focus on your upcoming job as Hokage, and do not let anyone go after me either. I do not want to be a burden to them._

_Goodbye, Naruto._

_Goodbye forever. _

* * *

Naruto read the letter over and over again. He could not grasp his mind on the concept that Hinata had left the hidden leaf village. He read the letter for the twentieth time just to make sure he understood everything. He sat down at the Hokage desk; it was not his desk yet, but in a matter of a few days it would be. Naruto sighed as he clenched his fist. He knew very well that Hinata was suffering because of the arrange marriage. He had even tried to get Baa-chan to do something about it, but she just told him that she had very little power over clan affairs that do not directly affect the village. Naruto grinded his teeth, he felt so helpless. A good friend of his ran away against her will. It was really eating him up, but not the way it did when Sasuke left. When Sasuke left it felt like betrayal and that he was missing a brother, but with Hinata…it felt like she took a big part of him with her. He could not explain how he felt, but the best word that could describe it was _**…Empty…Hollow…It feels like there is a void in my heart, but why? She is after all just a friend. Granted she is a very good friend of mine, but why do I feel like this? With Sasuke I didn't…but then again Sasuke left willingly while Hinata isn't…**_ Naruto thought as he mentally recited the letter in his mind. He loved the paragraph where she congratulated him and the paragraph where she said her smile saved her. Those two parts made him feel unexplainably happy. Happier than if anyone else had said it. There was the one part that kept nagging at Naruto's heart…

_I also wanted to tell you that I love…_

_That I love y…_

_I love…no I guess I shouldn't tell you. It would just make it harder for me to leave. It is already hard enough. _

He read it again. That part confused him for many reasons that even he did not understand. One emotion that he was able to identify was jealousy. He was not sure who or what he was jealous of, but he was jealous. Naruto folded up the letter and placed it into his Hokage jacket pocket. His jacket was similar to the one his father, Minato, wore but it was orange with black flames; also, Hinata made it for him as a congratulations gift when it was announced he would be the Rokudaime Hokage. The twenty-two year old ran out the door of the Hokage office and sprinted towards the hospital, where he knew he would find the person he was searching for.

* * *

**Me: **So I really want some feedback about the letter...I was not sure how to write it, so this is what I came up with.  
**Hinata:** I think it was really good. It really captured how I think of Naruto.  
**Me: **Well, thank-you, Hinata, you are too kind. Anyway please review and give me some feed back! Tell me if I should change this into a one-shot (cause I can do that still)


	2. Ch 2: Team Formation

**Ch. 2: Team Formation**

"Absolutely no way." answered the soon to be retired Hokage as she looked over some patients' charts. She moved to the lab to check on some lab results in an attempt to get away from the annoying blonde that had been pestering her for an hour straight. Unfortunately for her, he followed her to the lab still asking her the same favor.

"Please let me have a small squad to get Hinata back." Naruto pleaded, but Tsunade would not budge. If she brought Hinata back, Naruto would want to stop the arranged marriage, and she does not have enough political power to interfere with the Hyuga Clan affairs. It is not her place, but the brat would force her to somehow get involved. The boy kept pleading with her to allow him to go; she sighed. _**If it will make him shut up and give me some peace and quiet, I'll let him go after her. **_Tsunade thought. "Alright, Naruto, you can go."

"DATTEBAYO!" he exclaimed as he pumped his fist in the air in excitement. Tsunade shook her head in exasperation; she was going to need to go out for sake after this.

"Hold on, I have some rules okay." Tsunade said as she held up her right pointer finger in front of Naruto's face to show her power. Naruto nodded listening intently. "I will assign a team for you to go after Hinata, you only have two weeks at the most to complete this mission because that is as far back as I can push the Hokage ceremony, and lastly if she does not want to come home you cannot force her, got it?" Tsunade asked as she scribbled some names down on a piece of paper. Naruto nodded his head again. "Hand this to the ANBU and meet me in my office in one hour all packed and ready for the mission. You leave after the team debriefing, understood, Rokudaime-sama?"

"Hai, Godaime-sama. I mean, Baa-chan!" Naruto cried as he bolted to his house in order to get ready for mission to bring back Hinata. Tsunade smiled after him before shaking her head in amusement and getting back to her patients.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

The blonde man ran to the Hokage building to go for his debriefing after the hour was up. He had everything he needed for a two week journey and something a little extra. Naruto brought Hinata's note with him; he was not entirely sure why he brought it with him, but he guessed it was because it could somehow help him on this mission. He smiled as he thought about his favorite parts about the letter, but the feeling of jealousy came as well when he thought of who Hinata could possibly love. _**Whoever he is, he must be amazing to get someone like Hinata to fall for him. She is after all practically royalty! **_Naruto's thoughts continued to think in that same way of Hinata being on a golden pedestal like a princess should be, him being unworthy, and the guy who has her heart as daring and dashing prince. Naruto shook his head trying to shake the thoughts out of his mind. _**I'm the freaking Hokage! I am not the same orphaned trouble-maker I was back then. Besides, why do I care? Hinata is just a friend, and I am saving her so she can live her life the way she wants to, with no regrets. **_Naruto thought as he opened the door to the Hokage building and sprinted up the stairs to get to the Hokage office. He walked in very cool-like which the Rokudaime was pretty proud of. He took a seat Next to Tsunade and waited with her for the rest of his team.

The first one to arrive was Neji Hyuga. He was picked because he is the head of the Hyuga Guard so it his duty to protect the Hyuga Heiress, and because he would have a good shot at knowing where Hinata could have gone. Plus, since he was her cousin, he had ways to persuade her to return with them. Also, it didn't hurt that his Byakugan is powerful and would be so helpful in trying to find her.

The next to enter was Sakura Haruno. She was chosen to be the medic ninja on the mission; after all, being on a two week mission someone was bound to get hurt. Mainly Naruto would be for being too rash. She was also chosen because Hinata and she are best friends and she would be able to reason with Hinata the best. Sakura smiled at Naruto as she stood beside Neji in front of the Hokage's desk.

The third one to enter was Kiba Inuzuka and Akamaru. They were chosen because they are the ones most familiar with Hinata's scent and would have an easier time tracking her down. Also, they were on the same team as her and knew how her mind worked. They would have no problem figuring out where Hinata went and why. Kiba had a smirk on his face as he petted Akamaru they both knew that this was not all of their team.

The last person to enter was Sasuke Uchiha. He was picked because he was the best ANBU there was. His skills were second to none, and he was the only person who had a chance in a fight against Naruto. Also, he could keep Naruto calm to some extent. The brotherly bond they share runs deep between them, and that would be useful on this mission where bonds were the key to success. Although Sasuke was not super close to Hinata like the rest of the people on the mission, he did count her as a good friend and would do anything to help her.

Tsunade looked at each young adult in front of her and smiled. They were all accomplished ninja. Naruto would be the next Hokage, Neji is the head of the Hyuga Guard, Sakura is the Head Medical Ninja, Sasuke is the ANBU leader, and Kiba is the leader of Konoha's Trackers, the most highly trained trackers in all of the countries. Hinata was a member of this team along with Shino and a few others. Tsunade stood up and Naruto followed her lead. She cleared her throat to begin explaining the mission.

"As you all know, Hinata Hyuga left Konoha. She is not being put down as a missing-nin, but if this mission fails…I have orders from the Hyuga Clan to make her one." Everyone in the room clenched their fists in anger and Akamaru growled. It was not fair; the very people who made her run would be the very reason why she would be killed. Tsunade understood their anger and believed them to be rightly angered, but she hoped that their desire to save Hinata from becoming a missing-nin would help them complete this mission fast. "You are under the leadership of Naruto Uzumaki, and are to follow his orders." Everyone nodded. "The main goal is to bring Hinata back, but if she has no desire to come back, do not make her. Futhermo-"

"WHAT?!?!" Naruto yelled. Tsunade sent him a death glare for interrupting her, but she could see that the other members of the Hinata Retrieval Squad were just as confused as their Rokudaime. "If she is going to be a missing-nin if we don't bring her back, then we have to bring her back no matter what!" Naruto yelled.

"Naruto, listen to me. Hinata can only be killed for being a missing-nin is if she decides to continue being a ninja. If she gives up on being a ninja then it is alright, but she would have to send us monthly or yearly reports of her whereabouts and someone from our village will need to check on her and other things that we don't need to get into. Anyway, back to what I was saying. You all only have two weeks to accomplish this mission."

"Why only two weeks?" Kiba asked.

"Because the Hokage Ceremony is taking place and everyone needs to be there for it. Also, if you do not give me word if you found her in ten days, I will be sending another team after you." Tsunade answered.

"Who will be on that team, Tsunade-sama?" Neji asked very urbanely

"Shikamaru Nara, Shino Aburame, and Sai will be on the second platoon under Shikamaru's leadership. Now, are there any questions? No? Good. You leave now. Except you, Naruto, I need to speak with you. The rest of you wait for him at the gate." They all nodded as they left Naruto with Tsunade.

"What's up, Baa-chan?" Naruto asked with impatience. He wanted to go save Hinata already. Tsunade's eyes shone with compassion and curiosity.

"Why do you want to save Hinata so badly?" Tsunade asked the blonde blued eyed man in front of her. It was hard to believe that he used to be that annoying brat that she made a bet with about the Rasengan all those years ago.

"Because she is a very good friend of mine, and I want her to live the life she wants to live." Naruto answered without a hint of childish manners in it. He truly is becoming a man.

"You sure? Is there something going on between you and Hinata?" Tsunade asked suggestively. Naruto's cheeks burned at what she was implying. He did something that was uncharacteristic; he stuttered.

"N-no! It is n-nothing l-like t-that! S-she is j-just a g-good f-friend." Naruto stammered out as he waved his arms frantically. Tsunade chuckled a bit.

"Just be careful with that heart of yours. That's all. You can go now." Tsunade smiled as she poked Naruto's chest in the heart region. Naruto still had the light red color on his cheeks as he walked out of the Hokage's office. Once he regained his composure he used his father's legendary technique to instantly arrive at the gate.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

"About time you got here, Dobe." Sasuke sneered in a brother like way when Naruto arrived. Naruto glared daggers at Sasuke before retorting.

"You know, Teme, I am the Rokudaime. You should show some respect or I'll just lock you up in a room with Ibiki!"

"You are not the Rokudaime yet, and even if you were, you are still a dobe. Hn." Sasuke replied as smoothly as ever. Neji shook his head not believing he was stuck with these two on the same team. Sakura was debating on whether she should punch them now or wait and see if it'll blow over. Kiba and Akamaru however were thoroughly enjoying the exchanging of words between the two lifetime rivals.

"Look, we have to go now if we want to cover some distance to find Hinata." Sakura said. She decided reasoning required far less chakra then punching both of them to death for their stupidity. Both men quickly shut up. "Alright, Naruto, tell us what we should do."

"Well first we need to explore the area around the village and see if Neji can see anything that could lead us to Hinata or if Akamaru and Kiba pick up Hinata's scent. So for now we will split up into two teams and search the outer limit of Konoha. Kiba, Akamaru, and Sakura go search the western and southern perimeter. Neji, Sasuke, and I will search the northern and eastern side." Naruto commanded.

"Hai!" They all answered as they did what they were told. They searched the outer rim of the village, but found nothing. No scent, no nothing, but what could you expect? She is after all a member of the elite Konoha's Trackers, so she knows how to cover up her trail perfectly.

"Okay guys we need a new plan." Sakura stated the obvious. Everyone stood thinking of a new approach. Neji was the first to come up with something.

"The Byakugan blind spot." Neji said in an eureka fashion.

"Come again?" Sasuke asked.

"That would be the only place where she could possibly slip up in cover her tracks. Of course her blind spot is very small do to her trying to compensate for it, but it should still be to our advantage. If I go to a high up place, I can scan a larger area and I can send one of you into the areas where I have the blind spot, and…"

"We might find a trail Hinata left!" Naruto finished for him. Neji nodded. "I can see why you are the head of the Hyuga Guard, Neji, cause that is a brilliant idea!" Neji bowed his head in thanks before climbing up the highest three he could find. The team did this for about thirty minutes. Each time they came up empty they would go to a different area and do the same routine. On the final area, Neji sent Kiba and Akamaru into his blind spot area. No one was expecting anything to be found after almost an hour of doing this, but Kiba came running back to the group with Akamaru at his heel. He flashed the biggest grin he could.

"I found her scent! It heads north about thirty degrees from where Neji's blind spot was." Kiba informed the group.

"Alright, Kiba and Akamaru, you take point and lead us to Hinata. Neji you take back guard and use your Byakugan. Okay team, time to move out. Hinata Retrieval Squad is now a go!" Naruto yelled with authority and excitement. His teammates nodded as they followed Kiba to the north, towards the Land of Waves. _**Don't worry, Hinata, we'll find you and bring you back! Believe it!**_

_____________________________________________________________________________________

"The Great Naruto Bridge?" Hinata asked aloud to no one in particular. She sighed as she thought. _**Even when I am trying to run away, Naruto manages to find a way to somehow be where I am. **_She smiled as she walked into the town that would be her new home. Hinata took off her headband and put it in her backpack with a sad look on her face. After today there is no turning back, ever.

* * *

**Me: **Back by popular demand...it's chapter 2 of I need You! Okay I will not be making this into a oneshot because nobody wants it to be one. YAY!  
**Naruto:** This chapter is kinda boring...(begins eating instant ramen)  
**Me:** Yeah I know, but the info was neccessary. I carefully chose each member for the team that is going to get Hinata. (steals some of Naruto's instant ramen)  
**Naruto:** Hey get your own ramen!  
**Me: **But I'm too lazy to! Anyway, I apologize for the boring chapter. It just needed to be in there. (continues to eat ramen)  
**Naruto: **Any reason why it's the Land of Waves she ends up going to? (eats ramen protectively)  
**Me:** Not really. I was thinking of what place I could send Hinata, and the episode when Sasuke and Suigetsu go and get Zabuza's sword came into my mind. Also the chapter when Inari and Tazuna come to Konoha and say hi to Sakura, Naruto, and Kakashi, but they ask for Sasuke (who isn't there) so all that made me want to put it in the land of waves. Plus I really wanted to have The Great Naruto Bridge in my story!


	3. Ch 3: Settling In

**_Ch. 3: Settling In_**

Hinata walked around the town after crossing the Great Naruto Bridge, bit before she didthat, she hid and put on her disguise. She figured that her lavender Hyuga eyes were a dead giveaway that she is from Konoha. She contemplating using a henge, but decided that a scent change, contacts, and a new set of clothes would suffice and wouldn't deplete her chakra. The lavender eyed kunoichi put her long indigo hair in a ponytail that was held up by a blue ribbon then she braided her hair and tied it off at the end with a blue hair tie. She put on sky blue colored contacts because she felt that they would go nicely with her complexion. She then took off her baggy purple sweatshirt and replaced it with a baby blue v-neck t-shirt that hugged her torso in all the right ways without being immodest, and she kept her ninja pants and shoes on. Most people in the town seemed to be wearing them, so she would not stick out.

Next was her scent. She knew, from what Kiba said, her scent was lavender with a mix of vanilla, so she had to first spray herself with this odor neutralizer she had bought before embarking on her trip. When she finished spraying two cans worth of it, she just wanted to make sure that not even Akamaru could smell her, she moved to another location about ten kilometers away from where she hid before she put on her new scent. She knew that Kiba would be suspicious if her smell ended but a new one started in the same place. Well, that is if Kiba is even going after her…if anyone was going after her. _**Well, even if no one is coming after me, it is better to be safe than sorry.**_ Hinata thought as she drenched herself in her new citrus perfume. She smiled at her successful odor switch; now all she had to do was remember to only use citrus smelling shampoos, conditioners, perfumes, and soaps.

Hinata was walking around town to get to know her surroundings; after all she decided that this was going to be her new home, might as well get to know it. _**It's nice here, but I still prefer Konoha. I miss my home so much. I miss everyone too…*sigh* I miss Naruto the most. I promised myself that I will do my best to move on, yet I only picked this place because it has a bridge with his name on it…I really am in love with him… This running away is not going to go over well. **_Hinata thought as she meandered without paying attention to where she was going.

SMACK.

Hinata and whoever she smacked into both landed on their butts in the middle of the street. Hinata looked at who she bumped into; it was a woman who was in her late forties with long black hair and black eyes. She looked very kind, but looked like she could be stern as well. The newly blue-eyed girl looked to see that the woman had dropped her groceries due to the impact. "Oh I am so sorry; here let me help you with that." Hinata offered as she picked up some dried seaweed and tofu that came from the woman's grocery bags.

"Oh well thank you…umm…erm…" The woman trailed off indicating that she wanted Hinata to tell the woman her name. The thing was Hinata had not thought about a name for herself yet. _**Umm…let's see…Atsuko? Maybe Saiyuki? Megumi? Oh well I'll just blurt whatever comes to mind. **_

"Oh my name is Kinmotsu Kokoa, and you are?" Hinata (Kokoa) asked the woman.

"My name is Tsunami. It is a pleasure to meet you, Kokoa. I don't think I have seen you around before." Tsunami introduced herself with a genuine smile.

"I am new here. In fact I just got here today." Hinata answered trying to be as friendly as possible.

"Oh so that means you don't have a place to stay, right?" Tsunami asked. This took Hinata by complete surprise.

"Right…I don't." Hinata said warily. Tsunami smiled.

"I am actually putting one of the rooms in my house up for rent! If you would like, you can rent it. The only other people living with me are my father and son, so what do you say?" _**Well, I do need a place to stay, so this works to my advantage since now I won't have to go look for one.**_ Hinata thought.

"Okay, sounds good to me." Hinata answered.

"Thank-you, Kokoa! You just saved me from putting up all these flyers!" Tsunami cried as she threw away the flyers she had in one of the grocery bags. Hinata smiled as she took one of the grocery bags from Tsunami in order to help her.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hinata stood in the barren room in her new home. There was a closet where her bed mat was stored, another closet for clothes, a small chest of drawers was positioned across from the bed with a mirror on it. It was very small compared to her room back home, but she liked it. It was nice and cozy; it just needed some furniture, which she could go get later. _**Good thing I brought all the money I saved up from missions, and the allowance my father gave me. All of that should help support me until I find a job. **_Hinata thought.

"Okay so now that you know the rent; let's talk about rules: the rent is a monthly payment, please do not make too much noise after 12 a.m. because I try to go to bed by then…" Tsunami rambled on about a few more rules that Hinata needed to follow. They were all logical, so Hinata had no trouble abiding by them. "Okay well that's basically it. I got to go make dinner now, so…"

"I'll make dinner…if you want." Hinata offered.

"What, really, Kokoa? Sure go for it, the kitchen is straight down the hall to your left." Hinata nodded as she headed towards the kitchen. She looked around to see what they had that she could use. She saw that they had the ingredients for miso soup and sushi, so that's what she made. The sweet aroma could be smelled throughout the house. An eighteen-year-old boy stepped into the house taking in the delicious smell coming from the kitchen. The boy ran a hand through is spiky-shaggy-black hair as he headed for the kitchen. _**Yum…whatever Mom is cooking smells really good! I guess she has gotten better at it! **_

"Hey, Mom, what you coo…" The boy trailed off when he realized that it was not his mother standing in the kitchen. It was a beautiful girl with indigo hair in a long braid and sky blue eyes. She looked at him confused before smiling with a light blush on her cheeks.

"I think your mom is down the hall. Anyway, I am Kinmotsu Kokoa and I just rented your spare room. You are?"

"I am Inari, and nice to meet you." _**Alright a hot girl rented the spare room! Yes epic win for me! **_Inari thought as he walked further into the kitchen. "Do you want any help?"

"If you could get the table ready and tell Tsunami that dinner is ready, that would help." Hinata answered turning back to finish her tuna eel she was making. Inari nodded as he quickly set the table and ran to get his mother.

"Wow, Kokoa, this looks delicious…tastes delicious too!" Tsunami exclaimed as she ate the dinner. Hinata blushed at the compliment. She may have gotten rid of her stuttering and fainting, but her blush and some of her shyness was still present. Inari complimented her as well, he was not going to be outdone by his mother. He really wanted to impress Kokoa.

"I could smell the delicious food down the block! Tsunami, have you finally improved?" an old man with spiky grey hair, glasses, and a sake bottle in his right hand. Tsunami got up and hit the old man on the back of the head. He rubbed the back of his head and then noticed a new face at the table. "Who's the cutie?"

"She is Kinmotsu Kokoa, Grandpa, and couldn't you be a little more polite?" Inari asked the old man in annoyance.

"Oh…well I am Tazuna, nice to meet you. Since this food looks amazing I can tell my daughter didn't make it, so thank-you for the meal." Tazuna answered as he plopped down and started eating as much as he possibly could. Tsunami and Inari sweat dropped at Tazuna's antics while Hinata giggle. This was so different from her family dinners. Her family's dinners were so formal and quiet, but here this family was so boisterous and loving. She silently wished that her family could be more like that.

After dinner, Inari decided to give Hinata the grand tour of their village. Inari pointed at all the different building his grandfather had built and all the ones he himself had helped build. Inari was beaming with pride as he explained to Hinata his carpenter training. Hinata couldn't help but think that he was a lot like Naruto in some ways. When they came across The Great Naruto Bridge, Inari's smile spread from ear to ear in pride.

"This bridge my grandpa built when I was eight. You wanna know why it's call The Great Naruto Bridge?" Hinata nodded. "Well at that time our village was being run by Gato, this really evil creep who hired ninja to do all his dirty work. Anyway, Gato did not want my grandpa to finish building the bridge, so he tried to kill my grandfather. Unfortunately for Gato, my grandpa had some ninjas escorting him back home. They were Kakashi, Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto. They are from the Hidden Leaf Village. Anyway, Naruto was able to change Zabuza's heart, so that he did not want to attack them anymore and went after Gato. Him and Haku were ninjas that Gato hired who betrayed him last minute. Anyway, Naruto changed me from being some bratty woe is me kid and I was able to convince the rest of the village to help my grandpa, and we scared off Gato and his crew. The bridge was built and it was all thanks to Naruto, so the village decided to name it after him." Hinata's heart swelled up in pride after hearing what Naruto had done, but she could not let it show that she knew Naruto.

"Oh, he sounds like an amazing person." Hinata commented.

"He is! Did you know he is becoming the Rokudaime Hokage? That was always his dream. Heh, it also make this bridge look awesome since Naruto is such a well-known hero and future Hokage." Inari beamed. Hinata yawned…making a normal three day trip into one day was very tiring. She was running on pure adrenaline from being on her own so far from home. "We should head back. You look really tired." Hinata nodded as they made their way back.

Hinata set up her bed and snuggled into it. She was completely exhausted, so she had very little trouble falling asleep.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Naruto jumped from branch to branch following Kiba and Akamaru. Everyone, except for Naruto, was on the verge of exhaustion, but nobody wanted to stop, they had to find Hinata. After another hour of high speed running, Sakura couldn't take it anymore.

"Naruto, we need to stop. We are all very tired, and we need our strength for tomorrow's leg of the journey." Sakura said. Everyone nodded their head in agreement. Naruto looked at all of them and saw how tired they were, so he obliged.

"Alright let's setup camp here. You guys can rest; my clones and I will take care of setting up." The rest of the group nodded their thanks as Naruto created five shadow clones. "Okay guys you know what to do!"

"Yosh!" all of his clones cried as they went to set up camp. They were done in a short three minutes. New record. Naruto dispelled his clones.

"Alright, I'll take the first watch and Sasuke can take the second. Sound good?" Naruto asked. Everyone nodded. Naruto picked Sasuke as the second watch because he looked the less tired out of the group, so it made sense for him to take the second shift. Everyone went into their tents as Naruto sat near the fire thinking.

**The fact that she is gone really bothers you. It is really amusing. **A voice inside Naruto said.

_**Well of course it does. She is a really good friend of mine. What kind of stupid question is that, Kyuubi?**_ Naruto retorted. The Kyuubi laughed before continuing.

**You are really stupid, huh? **

_**Stupid? What the hell are you tal-**_

**I wonder who she loves…** Kyuubi interrupted Naruto's yell. Naruto went rigid. He really did want to know who the guy is.

_**It's not like it matters. She'll be happy with him, as soon as we bring her back. **_Naruto replied trying to cover up his own curiosity and twinge of jealousy. Hinata and him had become very close after he defeated the Akatsuki when he was sixteen, so obviously he wants he to be happy with whatever guy she is in love with. Although that does not explain what he is feeling.

**You really are a baka.**

_**Shut up I am not you damn, Kyuubi! Besides how am I a baka? **_The Kyuubi didn't answer him, so Naruto just gave up and watched the flames dance in front of him as he tried to sort out what was going on inside of him.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A man with cyan colored hair and green eyes sat behind a large desk looking at official documents. He was truly bored with his dreary life. _**The only thing that I have to look forward to was in about two weeks I will be marring the beautiful, exotic, wonderful, kind, and strong …**_

"Sir, I have some horrible news." A guard burst into the room tearing the cyan haired man from his thoughts.

"What do you want?" The green eyed man asked very angered that he was ripped out of his thoughts about…

"Hyuga Hinata is missing, My Lord." The guard said.

"WHAT?"He roared the angered man at the poor guard. He slammed his fists onto the desk with such force that he shattered the desk with ease. Out of anger, the man's his eyes changed magenta with a black pentagon in the center of his eyes. "GYUGAN!" the man cried activating his kekkei genkai. The poor guards veins began to burn as if someone was turning his blood into acid and making it course through him as a faster rate than normal.

After a few seconds of using his kekkei genkai, the man stopped and ordered a medic to come and take the poor guard to the hospital. The man's magenta eyes turned back to their normal green as he rubbed his goatee in thought. "So she ran away? No matter. I'll just have to bring her back because no one runs away from NARUMI AKITO!" Akito yelled to no one in particular. "I'm going to need a team in order to go after her."

* * *

**Me:** Okay so just to clear up any confusion here we go:  
1. Hinata Hyuga is Kokoa Kinmotsu got it. So from now on when she is in the Land of Waves in her disguise she will be called Kokoa (but she is still really Hinata)  
2. Kokoa means Love of the Heart while Kinmotsu means Forbidden. I picked this name since Hinata loves Naruto but is running away from an arranged marriage, so her "love of the Heart" is "Forbidden" Get it?  
3. Tsunami, Tazuna, and Inari are characters from the Land of Waves Arc (you know the on with Zabuza and Haku)  
**Akito: **Excuse me, but aren't you going to tell them about me?  
**Me: **Why the hell should I? I don't even like you...  
**Akito: **Because you made me and people need to know what I can do!  
**Me: **Oh right... here ya go.  
Name(last first): Narumi Akito  
Sex: Male  
Age: 22  
Hair Color: Cyan (the color of Bulma's hair from Dragonball)  
Eye Color: Emerald Green  
Village: Iwa (Village Hidden Among the Rocks)  
Country: Land Of Earth  
Kekkei Genkai: Gyugan(turns eye color magenta and forms a black pentagon in center of eye)- controls the oponents blood. It can make the blood flow faster or slower. Can make the blood burn like acid or freeze like frostbite. Can cut off circulation to anypart of the body. (in other words...it is made powerful) However, it takes up a lot of chakra, and can kill the user if they are not careful.  
**Akito:** Yeah I am bad ass.  
**Me: ***mumbles* Hope Naruto kicks your ass...  
**Akito: **What?  
**Me: **Nothing well that's basically it. hope you enjoy this chapter! Oh before I forget, I have a poll on my profile going on and I would like everyone to please vote! It is about what fanfic idea I should do next, so please vote! That's it...thanks


	4. Ch 4: Almost There!

**_Ch. 4: Almost There!_**

Akito's low supply of patience was wearing dangerously thin. He had called four other people to join him on his mission to return his fiancé back home, that way after the Hokage ceremony he could marry her, but the four people he called on were very late! They were exactly one minute and twenty-three seconds late. Make that one minute and twenty-four seconds late.

"Good day, Akito-sama." A white haired woman with red eyes greeted him with a bow. She was worried because Akito seemed very angry, and many people felt his kekkei genkai when he was angry, and that was an experience she wanted to avoid.

"Tomo, you are a minute and twenty-four seconds late. I will let it slide, since you are the first to arrive." Akito answered her with slight anger in his voice.

One minute and thirty-one seconds late.

"Greeting, Akito-sama, I apologize for my lateness." A man with emerald hair and black eyes said with a deep bow. Akito seemed a little less angry.

"Ah, Chuugo, it is alright. I know you must have a very good excuse for arriving late." Chuugo smiled and nodded. Chuugo had been on multiple missions with Akito, and knew exactly how to avoid his anger. "Oh look, Ryuuta and Iwao have finally decided to join us. You are both a minute and thirty-seven seconds late. Ryuuta, the black haired and brown eyed man, bowed in apology followed by Iwao, the brown haired teal eyed man. "I will not punish you all this time, because it is a long journey to The Hidden Leaf Village. Now, Tomo, will you do the honors?" Akito asked.

"Hai, Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" Tomo summoned two large eagles. Both eagles were big enough to carry three people comfortably. "Alright everyone climb on. Sora, we are heading to the Konoha, so please hurry." Tomo said to the largest eagle as she climbed on. The eagle nodded its majestic head as it waited for the rest of the company to climb on. After everyone was situated, the two eagles took off in the direction of Konoha.

"How long will it take us to get there?" Chuugo asked.

"Well it depends. If all goes well, just two days or so, but if they get tired more that I think they would, then it could take up to three days." Tomo answered thoughtfully. "This is better than the five days it would take if we went by land."

"So, what exactly is the plan once we get there?" Ryuuta asked Akito.

"We will talk to Tsunade-sama, and see if she knows where Hinata is. Then depending on her answer, we will either go to where Hinata is or a follow another course of action that I will decide."

"Sounds good to me! Let's get this over with!" Iwao exclaimed. The rest of the team nodded in agreement.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"AH! How much longer?" Naruto cried in impatience. Two days of travelling was too long! He felt that if they didn't take so many breaks, and if they picked up the just a little bit. They would have already been there, found Hinata, and brought her back. Even though Neji did not voice his thoughts, he felt exactly the same way Naruto did. He missed his cousin terribly, and wanted to bring her home as soon as he possibly could.

"Not too much longer. We made good time actually. If everything goes well, we could make it there later tonight, but if we make more than two stops, we won't get there until tomorrow morning." Kiba informed the group. Naruto sighed. He knew they were making good time. They made a three day journey into a two day one. That was something, but Naruto wanted to get there faster. Hinata was his friend, and he cares for his friends.

**Sure she's 'just a friend.' Just keep telling yourself that. **Kyuubi answered in Naruto's head. Naruto simply ignored the fuzz ball. He needed to focus on the mission at hand, and not the illogical ramblings of the Kyuubi. Kiba and Akamaru led the small platoon to the docks where they would need to cross the ocean to get to the land of waves. Sakura went to the little boat shack to see if they could rent any boats to cross.

"Sorry, Little Lady, but all our boats have been rented out." The owner answered Sakura.

"Are you sure you don't have anything?" Sakura pleaded with puppy dog eyes. The owner was immune.

"Sorry I have nothing."

"But-"

"Let me handle this, Sakura." Neji stepped in. "Look, we really need to get to the Land of Waves today. My cousin is in danger, and we need to find her."

"I feel really bad for you, but I honestly have nothing." The owner again said getting slightly annoyed. He really just wanted to be in peace; all his boats were already rented out for the next two days. Sasuke looked at Naruto who is visibly frustrated; Sasuke could tell that Naruto was trying very hard not to go into an angry outburst. _**Looks like the Hokage training did some good; he is not as loudmouthed as he used to be. **_Sasuke thought. He got an idea. Sasuke motions for the owner to lean in close so he could whisper something in his ears.

"Look, you probably don't know this, but that blonde guy is the next Hokage for Konoha, and as you can see he really wants to get his fiancé back from her kidnappers. So, what I am trying to get at is either you give us a boat, and the Rokudaime Hokage is in your debt, or you get to taste his famous Rasengan. So you decide." Sasuke said very sneakily. The owner looked at Naruto in awe and respect. He had heard the infamous tales of the future Hokage. Naruto Uzumaki. His name is well known for defeating the Akatsuki, and bringing peace to all.

"Oh my apologies Rokudaime-sama, I did not recognize you. Of course it will be my honor to help you rescue your fiancé; I do have my boat, but it is needs of repairs. If you could fix it up, I will allow you to use it free of charge." The owner offered. Sasuke smirked. _**That did the trick. **_He thought as he thanked the owner.

Naruto looked funny at Sasuke as he pulled him to the side. "Why did he say fiancé? Hinata is not my fiancé? If you don't remember, she is someone else's fiancée." Naruto whispered to the Uchiha.

"That can easily change once you realize your own feelings." Sasuke muttered while walking away.

"What did you say?"

"Oh nothing at all." Sasuke smirked.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"So…anyone knows how to repair a boat?" Kiba asked the rest of the team. Akamaru let out a bark like no as the rest of the team shakes their heads no.

"Well, we're Shinobi, so it shouldn't be too hard to repair it right?" Sakura questioned. The boat is large enough to fit eight people comfortably, but the gutter was completely mauled (possibly by a shark…), the handle to turn the gutter was broken beyond repair, the seats were splintery, and so much other work needed to be done. In other words, this was a major setback, but the owner said that the boats would not come for another two days.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" The blonde ninja cried as five other Narutos came into existence. "Okay everyone we need to repair this boat so here is how we will do this: Sasuke, Neji, and I will begin chopping wood to use for repairs. Kiba, Akamaru, and one of my clones will work on carving out the pieces of wood to fit the shape we need. Three clones will put the repairs on the boat, and Sakura plus the other clone will work on sanding." Everyone nodded. It took the team to finish all the repairs in three hours. It was a good two hours before sundown when all was done with the boat.

"I hope you save your fiancé soon, Rokudaime-sama!" The owner called after the shinobi as they pulled out of the dock. Neji sent Naruto the infamous Hyuga Death Glare, that could literally kill a man. Naruto waved his hands in front of him frantically.

"Hey don't look at me! Sasuke-teme, was the one to tell him that!" Naruto cried out in his defense. Neji then shifted his gaze to Sasuke. Sasuke shot the Uchiha Death Glare at him.

"It's a glaring contest of the ages, Folks! Uchiha versus Hyuga! Sharigan versus Byakugan! Who will win? Let's watch to find out." Kiba announced like a sports announcer. Naruto watched intently at the two men. "Sasuke Uchiha has just activated his Sharigan…Neji has activated the Byakugan! Will this battle determine which the stronger kekkei genkai is? Both participants seem to be exerting a lot of power!" Sakura grabbed Neji and Sasuke by the ears and pulled them apart. Both men winced in pain from her grasp.

"That's interference!" Naruto called.

"Sorry, Sakura, you get a yellow card." Kiba said as Akamaru pulled out a yellow card.

"SHUT THE HELL UP BEFORE I BEAT YOU TWO UP!" Sakura cried in anger and annoyance.

"That's a red card, don't you think?" Kiba asked Naruto who nodded. Sakura nailed them both in the head giving them a bump. "Yup, definitely a red card." Akamaru barked in amusement. Sakura did not hit them as hard as she would normally due to the fact that they needed to be in perfect physical condition when they arrived in The Land of Waves.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

They had been at sea in the thick fog for a good thirty minutes before Akamaru started barking. Everyone looked to Kiba for a translation. "He says he smells land, and I do too." Neji activated his Byakugan to see if what the tracking expert said was indeed true.

"Yes, we should be there soon." Neji answered in a informative voice.

"Okay it is late, so we won't be able to go search for Hinata when we first arrive, so we should find a hotel to stay the night in." Sakura suggested.

"Ne, Sasuke and Sakura, wasn't The Land of Waves where Inari, Tazuna, and Tsunami live?" Naruto asked his former genin partners.

"Yeah they were...why do you ask?" Sakura inquired.

"Well, we stayed there last time, why not stay there again"

"Heh, not a bad idea there, Naruto. I say we do that." Sasuke commented.

"Sounds good to me, right, Akamaru?" Kiba chimed in accompanied by Akamaru's bark of approval. Neji simply nodded.

"Yosh, we'll do that!" Naruto exclaimed. _**Don't worry Hinata, we will find you, and give you the life you want.**_ Naruto thought.

**With the guy she loves.** Kyuubi chimed in.

_**Shut the hell up!**_

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kokoa walked around town searching for a new job; she can't be a ninja while she is incognito. It would just ruin everything. She already looked into a job as a carpenter with Tazuna and Inari, but that was not her thing. She tried being a store clerk, but the boss kept hitting on her. So, she did not want to work there. She was really missing the life of a Konoha ninja. Sure she did not like the violence, but it was her life.

None of the jobs that were available were calling to her. She needed a job; her money could only last so long. Besides, she came here to make a new name for herself. She was no longer Hinata Hyuga, the fiancé of Akito Narumi and the Hyuga Heiress. She was Kokoa Kinmotsu, the independent girl who was going to make it on her own. She sighed, but she saw a building with a help wanted sign. She knew she probably should not apply there, but it was the closest thing she had to try. Kokoa took a deep breath as she stepped in hoping that this was where her future of independence could start.

* * *

**Me: **Okay again Hinata=Kokoa got it! Good now to introduce the latest batch of OC's (in order of appearance)  
Name: Tomo  
Sex: Female  
Age: 20  
Hair Color: White  
Eye Color: Red  
Abilities: She summons different animals ranging from eagles to fish. (That's basically all she does...yeah...)

Name:Chuugo  
Sex: Male  
Age: 22  
Hair Color: Green  
Eye Color: Black  
Abilities: Genjutsu Specialist (Rivals the skills of Kurenai) His genjutsus however show people their hearts desires, and than crushes them. (Cruel no? Guess that's why Akito and him get along)

Name: Ryuuta  
Age: 26  
Sex: Male  
Hair Color: Black  
Eye Color: Brown  
Abilities: Weather Man (for lack of a better title O_o) he can control the weather by sending out chakra at diff frequencies, but the weather change is limited to a conccentrated area only.

Name: Iwao  
Age: 19  
Sex: Male  
Hair Color: Brown  
Eye Color: Teal (it is a mix of green and blue kay!)  
Abilities: Expert with Earth Ninjutsus and Taijutsu

**Sakura: **Okay so these are the people after Hinata?  
**Me: **Yuppers...oh and if you are wondering why that whole red card yellow card is in there...it's cause I was watching soccer with my uncle before I started wrting that section (it was US v.s Panama for the Gold Cup...I never saw the ending of that game...anyone know who won?) and this one guy from Panama got mad cause they didn't give this one guy in the US a yellow card and yeah, so I did that Tehe ^_^ Anyway hope you enjoyed the chapter. Next Chapter Naruto and the gang finally make it to the Land of Waves :D


	5. Ch 5: Nice To Meet You

**_Ch. 5: Nice To Meet You_**

"STOP!" Kiba yelled. They had finally gotten off the boat when Kiba picked up Hinata's scent. They had been following the scent until Kiba yelled.

"What is it?" Neji asked. Kiba began to sniff the air like crazy, and Akamaru was doing the same. The others just watched him, and patiently waited for him to answer.

"The scent…it just…vanished." Kiba said in disbelief. Everyone, but Neji was shocked about this.

"Typical Hinata. She must have thought about how you would probably be able to smell her no matter how well she hid her tracks. She probably changed her scent as well, so we would not be able to find her." Neji informed the rest of the team. Kiba nodded in agreement. It made sense, and Hinata would be able to pull it off, perfectly.

"So in other words, we don't have any trail to follow." Sasuke decided that fact needed to be pointed out. Neji and Kiba nodded.

"So what do we do now? We have no clue if she went into this village or if she went to another one." Sakura asked.

"Well, I guess we start with this village and stay for awhile. We see if there are any clues to finding Hinata and if there are none…we move to the next town, and we keep doing that until we find her." Naruto said.

"Or we run out of time." Sasuke added. Naruto looked at him and nodded. "Well, let's go in, and find Tazuna. Once we get settled there, we start looking around. Sound good to everyone?" The group nodded. When they finally arrived in front of The Great Naruto Bridge, it was an hour or so before sundown.

"I can't believe they really named a bridge after you, Naruto!" Kiba cried out between laughter. Naruto's vein throbbed in annoyance.

"At least people have respect for me, and honor my accomplishments. Unlike some dog-obsessed tracker I know, who can't even get a girl to respect him." Naruto shot back as they walked across the bridge.

"WHAT WAS THAT, KNUCKLE-HEAD?" Kiba got into Naruto's face as he angrily yelled back.

"YOU HEARD ME, DOG-BREATH!" Naruto yelled back. Sakura shook her head. _**Where is Hinata when you need her? She could always keep the peace. Ugh, guess there is no choice.**_ Sakura thought.

"BOTH OF YOU IDIOTS SHUT UP! RIGHT NOW WE ARE LOOKING FOR TAZUNA, SO WE CAN THEN LOOK FOR HINATA! OR HAVE YOU GUYS FORGOTTEN OUR MISSION?" Sakura yelled barely refraining herself from punching the two men.

"Sorry." They both muttered as they hung their heads in shame. A young woman with green hair walked up to Neji.

"I'm sorry, but did your friend just say she was looking for Tazuna?" The girl asked Neji. The group turned their attention to the young woman.

"Yes, we are. Do you know where he is?" Neji asked. The girl nodded and motioned them to follow her, which they did. The girl led them to Tazuna's carpenter workshop. After they thanked her, they went inside to look for the old man. When they found him, Tazuna was sanding some wood with a bottle of sake nearby him.

"Old Man, still haven't stopped drinking, huh?" Naruto called out. Tazuna stopped working to look at where the voice came from.

Oi, Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura! Long time no see! How have you guys been?" Tazuna asked while he wiped his brow with the back of his hand after taking a swig of sake.

"We have been doing pretty well." Sakura answered.

"We have to catch up. Hold on let me close down the shop, and I'll take you all home for dinner. Inari and Tsunami will be glad to see you all again."

"Sounds good." Sasuke answered.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Naruto-nii-san, I'm so glad to see you! It has been a really long time!" Inari cried as he sat at the table across from Naruto. Naruto nodded with his goofy grin on his face.

"Yeah it has been, Inari!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Tsunami, where is dinner?" Tazuna asked bluntly. Tsunami sweat dropped at her father.

"I don't know, Kokoa said she was going to pick up something today." Tsunami answered as she finished setting the table.

"Who is Koko…"Naruto began to ask, but was interrupted by the sudden entrance of an indigo haired blue-eyed girl with arms full of bags.

"Sorry, I'm late! I was out job searching, and I lost track of time." Kokoa apologized as she unpacked the food. Once she finished, she then realized the dinner guests. _**Neji-nii-san…Sakura-chan…Kiba-kun…Sasuke-kun…N-Naruto-kun? What are they all doing here? How did they find me here? Oh, no! **_Kokoa frantically thought, but did not let her inner distress show on her pale face.

"Kokoa, remember yesterday when I was giving you the grand tour of town?" Inari asked. Kokoa nodded as she sat down next to the only empty seat, which to her disdain and delight, was next to Naruto. "Remember I told you that story about the bridge?" Kokoa nodded again trying to ignore the stares of her former teammates. "Well this guy is the Naruto from that story! He is the guy that we named the bridge after." Inari pointed out with pride in his voice. Tazuna nodded as if supporting what Inari said.

"Wow, you are amazing! Inari told me that story about how you saved this entire village from Gato! I must give you my deepest thanks and respect." Kokoa said with a slight bow, and blush on her cheeks. She was trying to act the very opposite of Hinata by being more outgoing, but her naturally shy personality was making it extremely difficult. Naruto rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment and with a light redness in his cheeks.

"Thanks, but I was just doing the mission just like any Konoha ninja would have." Naruto replied. Tsunami smiled, but realized that they did not introduce their dinner guests to Kokoa.

"Kokoa, let me introduce everyone to you. This guy here is Kiba and his dog Akamaru." Kiba waved, and Akamaru barked his greeting. "This here is Neji." Neji slightly bowed his head. "The only girl among them is Sakura."

"Nice to meet you." Sakura greeted with her arm outstretched waiting for a hand shake. Kokoa smiled and gave her a hand shake.

"Likewise." Kokoa responded.

"This is Sasuke." Tsunami continued. Sasuke simply 'hn' and that was it. "And well, Inari already introduced you to Naruto." Naruto stuck out his hand to give her a hand shake as well. She took it, and tried very hard to hide her blush that was forming from the direct hand contact she was having with Naruto. Tsunami served the food Kokoa had brought, and everyone enjoyed a light dinner conversation. Kokoa was thrilled that it did not seem that their dinner guest realized that she was really Hinata. Don't get her wrong, she is thrilled to see them all again. She really missed them, especially Naruto, but right now she was running away, and did not want to be forcibly brought back to Konoha to get married to Akito.

"So, what brings all you Konoha ninjas here?" Tazuna asked curiously.

"Well, you see Naruto's fiancé, Hinata, went missing a few days ago, and we are now looking for her. Some evidence that we found says she is here." Sasuke said.

"Fiancé? Congratulations, Naruto!" Tsunami yelled as she hugged the red faced blonde. Hinata could feel her cheeks heating up, so she did her best to conceal her glowing cheeks. _**Fiancé? Oh no I think I am going to faint! Got to keep conscious! Fainting is exactly something Hinata would do, and then everything I have done to get away from my arranged marriage. **_

"But..but she is not my-" Naruto was interrupted by Neji glaring at Sasuke. Naruto sighed.

"Alright it's time for round two!" Kiba exclaimed as he was going to begin announcing it, but Tsunami interrupted.

"Either Neji is the jealous ex-boyfriend or the over-protective older brother." Tsunami said to no one in particular.

"The over-protective cousin." Sakura answered as the two women giggled. Inari looked over at Kokoa to see her reaction to all of this, but noticed Kokoa looked a little distressed.

"Kokoa, you okay?" Inari asked. Everyone turned their faces to Kokoa. She was mentally killing Inari for drawing so much attention to her.

"Yes, I am. I guess I am just a little tired from job-hunting all day today." Kokoa said with an embarrassed giggle.

"Oh did you find a job?" Naruto asked genuinely interested in what the girl had to say. He was not sure what it was, but something about this girl reminded him of Hinata. He did not dwell much on it because, he just figured that it was because he really missed Hinata.

"Yes, I found a job in the last place I looked." Kokoa answered regaining her composure, and trying hard not to act like Hinata. She would have to try hard because it was going to be hard to fool Neji. " I am now working in the new ramen place in the market place." Kokoa smiled proudly. She really did not want to work there because it reminded her too much of Naruto, and the part of her heart she was leaving behind with him, but it was her only option. She needed the money.

"THAT'S SO AWESOME! I LOVE RAMEN! Maybe while we are here searching, I'll come visit you!" Naruto yelled with childish excitement causing everyone in the room to sweat drop. Naruto can be very mature, but when it comes to ramen, his excitement is that of a child. Kokoa giggled.

"Yeah, I would like that." She answered and quickly regretted saying that. _**Well, I would love him to visit, but it would be harder to keep him thinking I am not Hinata. Maybe I should leave this town. No, that would look to suspicious. Maybe…**_ Kokoa thought as she ran through some possible solutions to her new problem.

"So how long are you staying?" Inari asked.

"Well we have two weeks to find Hinata, and we already wasted two, which leaves us with twelve days. We will stay around five days or so here, since it is the largest town in the Land of Waves." Neji said methodically. "Is that good with you, Naruto?" Neji asked. Naruto nodded; it made perfect sense to him.

"Well, you are going to need a place to stay. I only have one room for guests though…"Tsunami trailed off.

"No problem, Inari will sleep in my room. Then the boys can sleep in Inari's room, and Sakura can sleep in the guest room." Tazuna suggested. "It works out better this way since Inari and I have to wake up early to go to work."

"You mean it's easier for me to wake you up from one of your hangovers." Inari said. Everyone laughed, even Tazuna.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Naruto laid comfortably in his bed looking out the window. _**Hinata, wherever you are I hope you are safe, and know we are coming to rescue you. I promise I will do whatever it takes to save you from your arranged marriage with that bastard.**_ Naruto thought.

**Bastard? You haven't even met the guy; you can't really call him that.** Kyuubi interjected.

_**He has to be! That's why Hinata is running away.**_ Naruto retorted.

**She is running away because she is being forced to marry someone she has NEVER MET; not some jerk she met. **Kyuubi corrected.

_**Is there a difference?**_ Naruto asked bitterly as he pulled the covers tighter around him.

**If you asked me, it sounds like someone is in love with Hinata, and is getting really jealous of lucky guy, Akito.** Kyuubi laughed.

_**SHUT THE HELL UP! I DON'T LOVE HER! SHE IS JUST A FRIEND! NOW END OF CONVERSATION! GOOD NIGHT! **_Naruto yelled in his mind as he turned onto his back to sleep.

**Well, you're no fun.** Kyuubi teased as he too went to sleep. Naruto looked up at the moon and could not help thinking about Hinata as he drifted to sleep with a soft smile on his face.

* * *

**Me: **Hiya! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I felt that it was kinda boring, but good news is that Naruto is finally in The Land Of Waves! *all of I Need You cast claps*  
**Hinata: **Although I am sure you all know this by now, but I am Kokoa. Just wanted to make that clear, so noone asks Lexar "Who the hell is Kokoa?" *blushes from cursing*  
**Neji:** Oh Lexar also wants to make it clear that the the Hinata Retrieval Squad does not recognize Kokoa as Hinata...ARE WE STUPID OR SOMETHING? *glares at Lexar*  
**Me:** Of course not, Neji, it is just for the story! I now your Byakugan can see all.  
**Neji: **Exactly!  
**Me:** But can it see why kids love Cinnamon Toast Crunch? *pulls out bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch*  
**Neji: **Because it is their destiny to.  
**Me: **No! It has cinnamon sugar swirls in every bite! *begins eating bowl*  
**Neji: **Oh now I see it! *begins to eat his own bowl*  
**Me: **Right...*rolls eyes* Please review and don't forget to go to my profile to vote for what story I should do next!


	6. Ch 6: I Miss Her

**_Ch. 6: I Miss Her…_**

The sun rose with it's usually brilliance shining throughout the morning sky. The sun's beams of warm light came in through Kokoa's window, and gently landed on her serene sleeping face. Her eyes slowly opened, welcoming in the new day. She sat up and stretched with a cute yawn escaping her mouth. She looked around her room groggily before realizing that it was her first day of work. She ripped the covers off her and quickly changed into her clothes for that day. She put her hair up in its usual braid, and she bolted down the hallway to the bathroom to finish up her morning ritual.

At the same time Kokoa was getting up, Naruto was also greeting the new day with a typical smile on his face. He got changed and groggily went to wake up his other teammates, but decided against it. He thought they should get some more sleep, so he wrote two quick notes, one for Sakura and the other for the guys. He left the note near Neji, he wouldn't miss it, and then walked out of the room to leave the other note in Sakura's room. Once he did that he went to the now empty bathroom, and did what he needed to do.

Hinata was in the kitchen preparing breakfast for herself when she heard footsteps coming towards the kitchen. She did not have to look up to know whose footsteps those were. Years of watching Naruto allowed her to notice every little thing about him, like his footsteps. When they were young, Naruto's footsteps were loud and attention calling due to how he wanted people to notice him. Now, however, they were soft like that of a true shinobi, but if one was to listen to them closely, one could here the confident strides he took. Which made Kokoa smile. "Good morning, Kokoa." Naruto greeted when he arrived at the kitchen. Kokoa turned her head to see him while she was still cooking.

"Good morning, Rokudaime-sama." She said. It felt a little weird being so formal with Naruto since they are such good friends, but while she was pretending to be Kokoa, she could not act familiar with him.

"Kokoa, you don't have to call me that. Just call me Naruto." He said as he sat at the table smelling the food she was making. His mouth began to water.

"Oh ok, Naruto-sama." She said brining some breakfast over to him, and sat across from him.

"I told you to call me Naruto. There is no need to get all formal." He said digging into the food. Kokoa chuckled as she watched him eat as fast as humanly possible.

"Sorry, Naruto…is that better?" Kokoa said with a little teasing in her voice. Naruto nodded. "Well I got to go. I have to get to the ramen restaurant for work."

"Hey, I'll walk with you. I have to go look for Hinata-chan now anyway."

The two both walked up to Kokoa's job and there they parted ways. Naruto was eager to start his search for Hinata; he wanted to find her now!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Naruto and his team had been searching for two days since they arrived in The Land of Waves. He found his teammates while he searched, and they would update each other on what they found. So far, everyone found nothing. They even used different approaches:

Sakura started at the hospital, just in case if Hinata had gotten hurt, but got nothing.

Neji used his Byakugan as he walked, and could not find her chakra signature anywhere. There were people with similar chakra coils, and Neji talked to them to see if they were Hinata, but they were not, to his disappointment.

Kiba tried describing her smell and looks to people to see if anyone had seen her, but no luck. Even Akamaru struck out when he asked the animals of the region if they had seen her.

Sasuke asked all the girls if they had seen Hinata only because all the girls of the town harassed him. They constantly followed him around, and one even tried to steal his underwear…WHILE HE WAS STILL WEARING IT! Each time he asked, all the girls would be jealous and not want to help, so he would tell them it was his friend's fiancé. After they knew that, the girls were eager to help. Of course, none had seen Hinata, but they said they would keep their eyes open for her.

Naruto had similar problems to Sasuke, but not as bad since Sasuke had most of the girls in town fawning over him. Naruto was so glad that the girls were leaving him alone; he had no taste for frivolous fan-girls, let alone the patience to deal with them. Anyway, Naruto had a picture of Hinata with him, so he would show it to people to see if they had seen her. Naruto would get different reactions. The most common was the simple 'I have not seen her' or 'If I find her I'll let you know', but when he asked certain guys if they had seen her the reaction was one that made his blood boil…

"Hey, have you seen this girl? My friends and I are looking for her." Naruto asked some good looking guy near Kokoa's work. The guy looked at the picture and smirked before looking up at Naruto.

"If I had, I can assure you she would not want to go back to you." The man said suggestively. Naruto looked at him with a little bit of anger, but he was a ninja, he was not going to let this guy bother him. Kokoa heard some noise from outside the stand, so she decided to check it out. When she looked she saw Naruto holing up a random guy with one hand by the man's shirt collar with an angry look in his eyes.

"I'll ask you again, have you seen this girl? And for your sake, you better answer more appropriately" Naruto asked his voice as even as possible. The man sniffed in arrogance.

"If I did, I would have done her." The man said with a sickening smirk on her face. Kokoa blushed profusely at what the man said, but she was completely disgusted with the scumbag, and apparently so was Naruto. Naruto let out a low feral growl before using a Rasengan on the man. The man was sent flying towards the direction of the hospital.

**Ha ha! Nice one, Kit, way to show him! There was no way we were going to let him talk about your mate like that! **The Kyuubi said with absolute pride in the way Naruto beat the crap out of the man.

_**Well it was the tenth one to say that about Hinata, so I got pissed. WAIT, DID YOU SAY MATE?!?!?! **_Naruto exclaimed in his mind. The Kyuubi let out a boisterous feral chuckle. Naruto growled at the Kyuubi in annoyance.

**Isn't it obvious, Kit? You normally would not have done that to someone for being so vulgar, but since it had to deal with Hinata…**

_**That's not true! If someone said that about Sakura I would have done the same thing!**_

**Ha ha! Oh really? Well, if I remember correctly, which I always do, something like this happened a year ago to Hinata and Sakura. Remember some drunk guy was trying to get Sakura and Hinata to go with him, and you at first ignored him because you knew Sakura could take care of herself, but the second the man put his arm around Hinata…you punched him in the face! That was a good time…he he.**

_**Shut the hell up! That is completely different than right now!**_ Naruto cried out defensively. The Kyuubi began cracking up hysterically at Naruto's stupidity. Naruto was getting really annoyed with the fuzz ball so he decided to ignore him and keep his search up.

Naruto saw Kokoa and let out a smile before hearing his stomach growl loudly. "He he. Guess beating people up gave me an appetite." Naruto said sheepishly. Kokoa giggled lightly.

"Come on, I'll get you some ramen." Kokoa said as she led Naruto inside. Naruto was absolutely starving! He had not stopped searching for Hinata all day, and had not eaten since breakfast. Naruto ate around twenty-seven bowls, at least that's how many Kokoa counted, but it could have been more. "So, how has your search been?"

"I haven't found anything yet." Naruto answered slightly depressed as he worked on his twenty-eighth bowl.

"Maybe she is not here or maybe she does not want to be found." Kokoa said. She was trying to get Naruto to leave the village because with every passing moment she knows he is here, the harder it is for her to stay as Kokoa. She wants to tell him she is Hinata, but that would ruin everything she has done up until now.

"I know she doesn't want to be found." Naruto replied sadly. He slowly slurped up a noodle. Kokoa gave him a curious look as she gave him some sake. As if reading her mind Naruto continued. "She gave me a letter telling me everything… I kinda memorized what it says, but I'll just sum it up for you. It basically says why she left, her congratulations for my accomplishment, what she thought of me, and more. Her letter is one of the reasons I am here. She said in the letter that her only regret is that she would not be with the person she loves…" Naruto trailed off as that now familiar feeling of jealousy came, but he tried his best to ignore it as he continued. "I don't want her to regret anything. Hinata is one of the most wonderful people I have ever met. If anyone deserves to be happy it is her." Naruto said with a faint blush on his cheeks. _**He brought my letter with him, and he memorized it? Naruto-kun…**_ Kokoa thought.

"I am here because I am going to bring her back so she could be with the person she loves most, and not have to marry that Akito bastard she is engaged to." Naruto finished his reason one, but before he could start reason two, Kokoa asked him something.

"Wait, I thought she was your fiancé?" _**Good one Hinata! This will throw him off from thinking I am Hinata! Cause if I was Hinata I would already know the answer to that.**_ Kokoa thought triumphantly.

"She isn't; Sasuke has been saying that since we left Konoha to look for her. Beats me why he has been saying that, but whatever. You know what, Kokoa, there is one more reason why I am looking for Hinata. It is actually more selfish than the first reason." Naruto began. Kokoa indicated she was interested in knowing what the other reason is. "I miss her." Kokoa was shocked. "It's weird, it's not one of those, my-friend-is-gone-I-miss-them feelings. It is stronger. I feel like when she left she took apart of me with her, and now I feel a void in my heart. I want her to come back…more than anything." Naruto admitted as he finished his ramen. Kokoa felt her cheeks get really red, and her heart beat faster and faster. _**Naruto misses me? Naruto misses me more than a friend? Could that mean that he…loves me? No, no. That's not true. Naruto did not say that; I'm getting ahead of myself here**__._ Kokoa thought as she took Naruto's twenty-eighth bowl away from him and brought him the check. "Hey thanks for listening, Kokoa, I needed to get that off my chest. Well I get to get back to searching for Hinata because we only have three days left here." With that, Naruto booked out of the ramen place with even more determination in his eyes. Kokoa stood there watching him leave until she could no longer see him. She sighed, and let out a smile. _**Naruto, you are the one I love, and you are making it so hard for me to not tell you that I am Hinata…**_Kokoa thought as she got back to work.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Tsunade-sama, will see you now, Akito-sama." An ANBU agent said to Akito who was sitting in a chair in his hotel room. His team had been in Konoha for a day already, but Tsunade was too busy to see them when they first arrived. Akito was really annoyed about that, but decided to ignore it this one time. Akito followed the ANBU into the Hokage building, up the stairs, and into Tsunade's office. After Akito was inside the room, the ANBU left and closed the door.

"Hello, Akito-sama, sorry I could not see you when you first arrived, but many things needed my attention yesterday." Tsunade began. In all honesty, she was completely free yesterday, but she was not ready to deal with Akito. The whole cancellation of the arrange marriage was still being discussed with the Hyuga Clan. Surprisingly, Hiashi Hyuga was dead set against the whole thing, but the Hyuga Elders wanted it. Tsunade felt better knowing that she had someone on her side that had some power in the clan, but with the arrival of Akito, it complicates everything.

"It is alright, Tsunade-sama, I did not tell you I was coming, so how could you have been ready to see me?" Akito said as politely as possible.

"Thank-you for understanding, so what can I do for you?"

"It has come to my attention that my fiancé is missing, and I was wondering if there has been any word from her or anything."

"Well, I have my best team working on finding her as we speak. In fact, the future Rokudaime is leading the search team." Tsunade answered very diplomatically. Shizune would have been proud of her.

"Do you know where she is? I am deeply concerned about her, and would like to send my own search party to look for her." Akito asked. "Not that I do not trust your Rokudaime, but I believe the more eyes searching for her, the better."

"I am sorry, but my team has yet to report to me the location they are searching in." Tsunade said glad for once that she honestly did not know where they were. Akito let out a sigh of frustration. At that moment, a new messenger bursted into the room with a letter in his hand.

"Tsunade-sama, Naruto-sama's team has reported in. They are currently in The Land of Waves, but no sign of Hinata-sama yet." The messenger said as Tsunade smacker her forehead. _**So much for keeping their whereabouts a secret from Akito.**_ Tsunade said as she quickly regained her composure.

"Well, I will take that info and go to The Land of the Waves right now with my team. Thank-you for everything you have done. I will be taking my leave now." Akito said as he briskly walked out of the room leaving a very confused messenger at the door.

"You are new here right?" Tsunade asked as she looked at the messenger.

"Hai." The messenger said nervously.

"Okay, a piece of advice. Next time wait for whoever I am talking to, to leave before giving me messages, unless they are extremely important. Got it?" Tsunade said little annoyed.

"Hai!" The messenger said as he bolted out of the room. Tsunade began rubbing her temples to soothe her now forming headache.

"Shizune!" Tsunade called. Shizune came running in with Tonton in her arms.

"Yes, Hokage-sama?" Shizune asked.

"Bring me Choji Akamichi, Sai, Shikamaru Nara, and Shino Aburame. I have a mission for them." Tsunade said as she began filling out the necessary paperwork to send them on her new mission.

"Hai!" Shizune said as she ran to get the people Tsunade requested.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"You called?" Shikamaru asked as he, Choji, Shino, and Sai entered the Hokage's office.

"Yes, I have a mission for you. You all know of Hinata's running away?" Tsunade began.

"Yes, but I thought Naruto's team is looking for her." Shino spoke up.

"They are, but an unexpected problem has arisen…Akito, Hinata's fiancé has discovered Hinata's supposed location, so this is where you four come in. Akito's kekkei genkai is very powerful, and I am sure his escorts are just as powerful as him, so I am sending you all as back-up for Naruto's team. You leave as soon as you can, but first I want you, Sai, to send one of your ink beasts to give Naruto a message about Akito."

"Hai…Ninpou Choujuu Giga." Sai said after he drew a bird on his scroll. After those words were uttered, an ink bird emerged from the scroll, and took off to the direction of The Land of Waves to deliver the message to Naruto.

"Alright, you all know what you need to do, so go!" Tsunade ordered, and the four young adults ran to get ready for their mission. _**Good luck, Naruto, you are going to need it. Not only do you have to find Hinata, but now you have to steer Akito away from Hinata's trail.**_

* * *

**Me: **Hola people! The new chapter of I Need You is here! I had to update because well...my life apparantly depended on it....*sweatdrops*  
**Sasuke: **This chapter is longer than your other ones.  
**Me: **Yeah...I got a little typer happy...he he oh and sorry for the time skip of two days, but it would have been basically the same type of thing for those two days.  
**Naruto: **So, Akito is coming?  
**Me: **Yuppers oh and Naruto will discover Kokoa is Hinata either next chapter or in two more chapters! YAY!  
**Akito:** He he Uzumaki Naruto stands no chance against me!  
**Naruto: **I am pretty sure I can kick your ass dattebayo!  
***Naruto and Akito start to fight*  
Me: **Great the fight scenes have not even started, and you guys are already fighting...GO NARUTO!  
***Sasuke and I eat popcorn while watching Naruto and Akito fight***


	7. Ch 7: The Desires of the Heart

**_Ch 7: The Desires of the Heart_**

It was one of those days that one knows that something big was going to happen. The air was heavy with the desire for blood, the wind sent chills down everyone spines, the sun hid behind big thunder clouds that were the darkest color a cloud could be, and the ominous feeling of evil could be felt throughout the town. The blonde Rokudaime was even more edgy today due to the feeling that something evil was going to happen later today. Sasuke's grip tightens on his sword's hilt as he felt the increasing tension the atmosphere was creating. Kiba petted Akamaru who was whimpering in obvious discomfort. Sakura was pacing the room in an attempt to ease herself from the horrible sinking feeling. Neji just about had it with the tension, so he used his Byakugan to see if there really was anything to be worried about, and as soon as he activated he let out a small gasp. His gasp would have gone unnoticed by normal citizens, but since the room was full with trained ninjas, his gasp was heard loud and clear.

"What's wrong, Neji?" Sakura asked as she came to halt in her pacing. Neji got up and ran outside without even acknowledging Sakura. The group followed after him with growing curiosity. Neji ran until he was about to cross the bridge where he came to a full stop. The group came up behind him with curiosity in their faces.

"Neji, you gonna answer Sakura?" Kiba asked. Neji pointed up in the air. The group could make out a moving ink drawing of a hawk. Naruto and Sakura recognized the hawk immediately.

"Sai!" They both cried as the ink drawing messenger hawk landed in front of the group. When the hawk touched the ground, the ink he was made of began to reshape itself into words on the ground.

Akito is coming to the Land of Waves to look for Hinata.

Try to steer him away from her trail to give Tsunade time to solve the arrange marriage issue.

Be careful, Akito is very powerful, and no doubt his teammates are as well.

Good Luck.

As soon as everyone finished reading the message Sai sent, the words disappeared. "Well, that would explain the ominous feeling…" Sakura trailed off as everyone also put two and two together.

"Neji, you don't think that the feeling and the storm that appeared out of nowhere is a possible jutsu made by Akito's team?" Sasuke asked. Neji re-activated his Byakugan and looked around. His eyes saw faint chakara frequencies that seemed to be affecting the clouds and air, as if they were commanding the weather. He deactivated his kekkei genkai.

"Yes, it seems that chakra is what is causing the abnormal weather." Neji stated with a hint of worry in his tone that went unnoticed by everyone except Naruto. Naruto sighed as he looked up at the thunder clouds in the sky.

"Well we better get back and prepare for Akito. Something tells me that it is going to be a fight that will get Akito off Hinata's trail." Naruto commanded as he started to head towards Tazuna's house. The rest of the group looked at each other before following their blonde team leader. _**This is not going to go over well.**_ Naruto thought as he jammed his hands into his pants pockets.

**The more fun then. **Kyuubi added with blood thirst in his tone.

_**Calm down, Kyuubi, it is just a feeling.**_

**Yes, but even I feel it, so it must be correct. Besides this entire four days that we have been on this search for your mate, I have been dying to kill the little Gyugan user.**

_**She is not my mate for the billionth time, and why do you want to kill him so badly?**_

**I don't you do.** Kyuubi answered simply. His answer caught Naruto completely off guard.

_**No I don't!**_

**Just face it, Kit, in the dark corners of your mind; you would love nothing more than to obliterate Akito for even daring to claim Hinata. You love the Hyuga girl and can't stand to think of someone taking her away from you, and…**

_**I do not love Hinata! She is just one of my closest friends. I'll give you that I would love to obliterate Akito, but not for the reason you said. He is the reason why Hinata is unhappy, and gone…**_

**Alright, Kit, you keep telling yourself that.** With that Kyuubi stopped talking to Naruto, but he left Naruto a lot to think about. Naruto had been thinking about Hinata so much lately that his heart ached every time he realized that she was gone. He subconsciously clenched his jacket in the area of where his heart is. The team arrived at Tazuna's house greeted by the delicious smell of lunch that Tsunami made. Kokoa was also in the kitchen helping out, normally she would be at work, but the owner closed the ramen stand due to the bad omen of his sake cup cracking for no apparent reason. Kokoa could also sense the eerie feeling that the atmosphere was giving off, but decided to ignore it, and just continue her day.

"Alright, so here is some onigiri for all of you!" Tsunami declared as she brought the rice balls. Everyone began digging in when Tazuna came into the house with Inari by his side.

"I know you are all here on your own mission, but Inari and I have to do some repairs on The Great Naruto Bridge, and were wondering if you all would protect us. We have no reason to believe that we would be attacked, but the eerie feeling of today makes me want to be extra careful." Tazuna asked. Naruto gulped down his seventh onigiri as he turned to answer Tazuna.

"Sure, I don't see the harm in doing that." Naruto answered his is infamous grin on his face. Neji leaned towards Naruto's ear.

"Naruto, we are here to find Hinata-sama, not protect a worry-wort bridge builder." Neji whispered. Naruto leaned towards Neji's ear to give him a rebuttal.

"True, but we owe them for their hospitality and besides we know that Akito is coming here, so if he sees us at the bridge we could possibly persuade him into thinking that Hinata's trail leads elsewhere." Naruto whispered. Neji's eyes widened in surprise, Naruto's plan made perfect sense, and how could he, the Genius of the Hyuga Clan, not be able to think up the idea Naruto had. Neji nodded as soon as he regained his composure and continued his meal thinking about how much Naruto has changed. Kokoa was able to hear their conversation due to being so used to listening to other people whisper due to her training as Hyuga heiress. According to her father, listening to what the elders whispered about during clan meetings was beneficial to the clan head. _**Akito is coming? Maybe I really should leave today…I don't know. If I leave it will look suspicious, but if I don't, Akito might find me. **_Kokoa thought as she continued to eat her lunch.

"Alright, well after lunch let's head to the bridge." Inari declared as he pumped is arm in the air out of excitement. Tsunami smiled at her sons antics while seating down to eat her own lunch.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bubble gum colored hair kunoichi sighed as she plopped herself down on the ground next to Sasuke when they arrived at the bridge. She was bored. Sakura knew the reason why they were doing this, but she did not want to just sit there and be bored for an attack they knew was not going to happen. She let out another exasperated sigh as she placed her head on her knees. "What's a matter?" Sasuke asked while trying to seem uninterested. Sakura picked up her head in surprise as she faces Sasuke.

"I guess I'm just impatient. I mean it's been four days and we haven't found a single clue about Hinata, and now we are here protecting Tazuna and Inari when we know they won't be attacked." Sakura answered as she tossed her head back to look at the ominous clouds that began to disappear.

"Well, I'm sure we will find her soon." Sasuke answered in an unusual compassionate tone. Sakura blushed as she looked at Sasuke.

"Yeah, I'm sure you are right." She answered with a sweet smile on her face. The two then looked at Naruto who was visibly annoyed with the situation as well. "Poor, Naruto."

"Yeah…he is such a baka." Sasuke said as he lay down on his back with his arms tucked under his head. Sakura looked over at him with an annoyed face.

"Why do you say that?" Sakura asked getting a little defensive of Naruto. He is emotionally vulnerable and Sasuke is being mean about it.

"It's obvious that he is madly in love with Hinata, but he is too much of a baka to realize it." Sasuke stated simply. Sakura looked over at Naruto and simply nodded. She understood where Sasuke was coming from, but she knew eventually Naruto would figure it out. He is not the same immature kid they knew.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Naruto got up, and his entire team stood up tense and ready for action. They had sensed a group of five people a while ago, but they did not seem like they were going to head towards their direction. Just now they had started to move towards the Hinata Retrieval Squad. Akamaru growled and Kiba crouched low. Neji had his Byakugan active while Sasuke had his Sharigan active. Sakura pulled her gloves on tighter as she clenched her fists, her chakra was ready to give her super human strength. Naruto took a defensive position near Tazuna and Inari who continued to make the repairs.

Two huge eagle summonings came down from the sky. The people dismounted from the eagles and the white haired red eyed girl sent the summoning back to their home. A cyan haired man with green eyes walked up to Naruto very casually. Naruto did not know why, but he could already tell he did not like this guy one bit. "Hello, Naruto-sama, I am Narumi Akito. I heard from Konoha that you picked up on Hinata's trail and that it led here, correct?" Akito asked. Naruto's eyes flickered red for a small instant as his anger began to boil up. There in front of him was the guy that is causing this whole mess. Here was the guy that is causing Hinata so much pain. Naruto had to restrain himself, so that he would not punch the very deserving Akito.

"Yes, that is correct." Naruto asked with as much politeness as he could muster. Naruto's entire team was shocked that Naruto had not beaten the living daylights out of Akito, but they understood why. There was no reason to…yet.

"Well, have you found her?" Akito asked clearly annoyed that Naruto was barely answering him.

"No." Naruto decided one word answers would suffice for now.

"Well, have you found another trail?"

"No."

"So what are you doing here?" Akito asked as his temporal vein throbbed out of complete frustration and anger. Naruto shrugged.

"Our friend here asked us to protect him while he made repairs to the bridge, so we decided to do that." Naruto answered again. Akito clenched his fists; his very limited patience was running out.

"Sir, I don't think they are telling us everything." The white haired girl interjected. Akito smirked; he knew how to make them talk.

"Alright, Tomo, thank-you for pointing out the obvious." Akito answered very sarcastically.

"Naruto told you everything we know. We were actually about to leave this town when Tazuna asked us to protect him, so we decided to." Kiba added and the rest of the team nodded. Akito was not buying into what they were saying. Yes, they were protecting the bridge builder, but they had not given up looking for Hinata in this town yet.

"Chuugo, I think you know what to do." Akito said to the green haired man who smiled as he looked at Naruto. Naruto then fell to the ground in some sort of trance like state.

"NARUTO!" Sakura yelled as she attempted to run over to her fallen comrade, but Tomo intercepted her with two Bengal tigers at her sides.

"Sorry, Cherry, but your fight is with me!" Tomo declared with determination in her eyes. Sakura smiled as she stared down her opponent. The two tiger growled protectively of their summoner, but their growls only added to Sakura's adrenaline rush. She was going to enjoy taking this girl down.

"The name is Sakura Haruno, get to know it, cause it will be the name of the kunoichi who defeated you!" Sakura cried as she charged at the girl with her fists ready to land her deadly punches on the two tiger summoning that disappeared in a puff a smoke under her fists. Tomo thought fast and summoned a large snake to go after Sakura.

Sakura grabbed a kunai out of her pouch and held it firm in her hand as she jumped up high into the air, so she could come crashing down on the snake with her kunai. She stabbed the kunai into the snake's left eye, but this only made the snake angry. Sakura grabbed another kunai in order to take down the snake faster.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Brown haired and teal eyed man walked up to Kiba and Akamaru with a huge grin on his face. "Come on, Mutt, show me what you got!" He cried as he got into his strong fists stance. _**Okay, so this guy fights like Lee. This should be a piece of cake. I have fought against Lee, and this guy does not even look like he is even as good as Lee. **_Kiba thought as he patted Akamaru's head.

"Gatsuga!" Kiba yelled as him and Akamaru transformed into two spiraling tornadoes heading straight for their opponent. The man smirked as he waited for the two to get closer to him.

"Doton: Doryuuheki!" mud began to spew from the man's mouth and hit Kiba and Akamaru head on causing the two to stop their jutsu in order to recover from the attack. _**Damn he knows earth style ninjutsus too. This is going to be tougher than I thought. **_

"Jinju Konbi Henge Sotoro!" Kiba and Akamaru merged together to form a very large two-headed white wolf.

"Well this should be fun. By the way I'm Iwao, and I'm a cat person!" the man yelled as he dodged an incoming paw.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"So you are Neji Hyuga? Well, it is my pleasure to be your opponent today. I'm Ryuuta, and I am sure you are familiar with my work." The black haired brown eyed man said. Neji gave him a confused look. Ryuuta chuckled. "The thunder clouds and ominous weather."

"You were the one tampering with the weather?" Neji asked finally understanding what he is up against.

"But of course." Rain began to pour over Neji as soon as Ryuuta finished his sentence. What was weird about this rain was that it only hit him, no one else was affected by the rain. _**I see so this guy can only change the weather in a concentrated area. That explains why it was only clouds and wind that were impacting the whole village. Interesting.**_ Neji thought as he slipped into his Jyuuken stance. Ryuuta was sending hail stones at Neji from the raining thunder clouds.

" Hakke Shou Kaiten!" Neji exclaimed as he spun around causing his chakra to from a blue impenetrable chakra shield that blocked all the hail. Neji smirked as soon as he stopped spinning.

"You are good at defense, but let's see how good your reflexes are, My Opponent." Ryuuta complimented as his rain clouds stopped the hail storm and began sending lightning bolts at Neji. The Hyuga Member was very thankful for his intense training to be head guard of the Hyuga Clan right now, since he was able to easily dodge the lightning. "Impressive. Why don't I kick it up a notch?" Ryuuta began sending lighting bolts at a faster rate and increased their numbers. Neji's eyes widened in fear, the Hyuga knew it would take a miracle to dodge them all.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sasuke stared down Akito with killer intent flaring full blast towards the cyan haired opponent. Akito activated his Gyugan as well. He always wondered how his kekkei genkai would fare against the Sharigan.

"Tsukuyomi!" Sasuke activated one of the most powerful genjutsus known to man, and Akito felt the full extent of its power. Akito fell to the ground after three seconds of the jutsu, but of course Tsukuyomi made it feel much longer. Sasuke smirked thinking that the match was over, but all of a sudden his blood felt like it was burning. Sasuke gasped in pain as he doubled over. He looked over to see Akito smiling evilly at him.

"Your kekkei genkai is very powerful, but it deals with illusions and fire. All of which are avoidable, but my kekkei genkai affects one's blood, and his completely unavoidable. In other words, Sasuke Uchiha, you are royally screwed." Akito smiled as he watches Sasuke thrash about in utter agony.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Naruto felt someone hug him warmly from behind him.

"There you are, Darling, I have been looking for you everywhere!" a sweet voice cried out. The voice sounded familiar, actually it sounded like…

"Hinata-chan?" Naruto asked as the girl let go of him to stand in front of him.

"Well of course it's me, Silly, now come on we have to pick up Miyako from the Academy." Hinata informed Naruto as she pulled on his hand leading him to the academy. Naruto looked at the Hinata in front of him. She was older than he remembered her to be, and she seemed very motherly for some reason. Naruto was going to ask Hinata who Miyako was when he noticed how perfectly Hinata's hand fit into his. He smiled as a blush crept on his cheeks. The couple passed by a window of a store as they neared the academy, and that's when Naruto realized that even he looked older. He looked like he was in his early thirties, his hair was spiky but longer, his face was leaner and more wise looking, he was still wearing his orange Hokage jacket, but what was different was that he was wearing the Hokage headwear. He looked at the Hokage Mountain to see his head neatly carved right next to Tsunade, his carving even had little whisker markings.

When the couple arrived at the academy a red haired girl with Hyuga eyes ran up to Naruto hugging him. She was about eight or so, and incredibly cute. She had bangs that swept across her forehead to form a side bang that was held in place by orange barrettes. Naruto hugged the girl back as he felt fatherly instinct come over him. He was confused as to why he felt like that until Hinata cleared everything up without meaning to. "Miyako, let go of your father otherwise we won't go out for ramen."

"Ah! Okay, Okaa-san, I let go. Let's get some ramen. Come on, Otoo-san!" Miyako cutely cried as she grabbed her father's hand and her mother's. _**Wait she called me otoo-san, and Hinata okaa-san…that means I'm her father and Hinata is her mother…does that mean Hinata and I are married?!?!?**_ Naruto thought. He looked over at Hinata's left hand and saw a beautiful wedding band on her delicate ring finger. _**I am married to her! **_Naruto thought happily. The rest of the day was spent in utter bliss for Naruto. He is the Rokudaime, he has a daughter, Hinata is expecting another child in three months, and he is married to the most wonderful woman in the world. His life is perfect, he could not help smiling. He had never before experienced so much happiness in his entire life.

It was nighttime and Naruto had to do some late night work in the Hokage office, so he sat very annoyed at his desk. He wanted to get back to Hinata and Miyako as fast as he could. He was on his last piece of paperwork when an older version of Sakura came bursting into his office with a worried look on her face. "What's wrong, Sakura?" Naruto asked getting tense.

"It's Hinata." Sakura answered with urgency. Naruto leapt over his desk in a single bound and bolted out of the room with Sakura following close behind. Sakura lead Naruto to the hospital, more specifically, into the delivery section of the hospital. The second Naruto entered the wing where Hinata was located, Miyako jumped into his arms with tears streaming down her face.

"Miya-chan, what's wrong?" Naruto asked while rubbing his daughter's back in an attempt to soothe her.

"Otoo-san, Sakura-oba-san said that Okaa-san is having the baby now, but it is too early and it's not good for Okaa-san or the baby!" Miyako wailed as huge tears fell from her lavender eyes. Naruto held her close and looked at Sakura.

"I did not tell her, she overheard. She is a very bright girl, I was using medical lingo when I said that to Tsunade." Sakura stated trying to lighten up the mood. Naruto nodded as he sat on the couch with Miyako in his lap. The two of them waited for what seemed like an eternity before a nurse called the two in. Naruto carried Miyako inside the delivery room. Inside they saw a very weak, tired, and pale looking Hinata, but she had the biggest smile on her face. Naruto went to her side and held her hand, and Miyako got on the bed with Hinata. Tsunade came into the room with a bundle in her arms.

"Would you like to see your new baby girl?" Tsunade asked. Naruto and Hinata nodded. Tsunade put the bundle in Hinata's arms. The baby has blonde hair like her father, but her mother's eyes. Naruto took the baby from Hinata and held her in his arms. He smiled proudly at his new child.

"Kushika." Hinata said softly. Naruto looked at her with a confused expression. "I want to give her that name."

"It's similar to my mom's name." Naruto whispered softly. Miyako looked at her new baby sister and began going on about all the things she was going to teach her. Naruto and Hinata chuckled at their oldest daughter's antics. All of a sudden, Hinata let out a small gasp of pain that caught Naruto's and Tsunade's attention. "Hinata-koi, what's wrong?" Naruto asked worriedly.

"She is having complications, take your daughters out of here so I can try to save her." Naruto grabbed both of his children and was out of the room quickly. He waited for a few minutes, Sakura and Shizune ran inside the room to assist Tsunade. A little later a nurse took Kushika to give her a physical to make sure she did not have any problems. An hour went by and Miyako clung onto her father in fear for her mother's life. Naruto tried to calm her down and himself down as well. _**Please let Hinata be okay, I'll do anything just let her be okay.**_ Naruto thought as he stared at the room door. Sakura came out of the room with tear stained face. She looked at Naruto sadly.

"I am so sorry, Naruto…we couldn't save her." Sakura said trying to hold back her own tears that were dangerously close to falling. Naruto leapt up from his seat and ran in the room to see the bed sheets where Hinata laid stained with blood. Tsunade and Shizune were cleaning up when they noticed Naruto in the room. They both wanted to say something, but they decided to leave the man to say his goodbye. Naruto rushed to Hinata's side, and checked all her vitals hoping to find a pulse or something to show that she is alive. To his dismay he could not find anything that showed she is alive. He held onto her hand as he allowed the tears to fall down onto the bed. He had not cried like this since Jiraiya had died, and he felt like this was so much worse than losing Ero-sennin. He felt like his life left when she died, and he could not take it anymore. His sobs got louder as he tried to say the three words.

"I love you." He sobbed. The whole room turned into a black void, and Hinata was nowhere to be seen in his new surroundings. "Hinata-koi? Where am I?"

"It is awful to lose your heart's desire isn't?" a voice asked cynically. Naruto spun around to find the source of the voice but could not.

"Who is there?"Naruto asked, but the voice simply chuckled.

"You lost her, you are never going to see her again. Oh well… sorry I had to kill her off…" The voice said even more cynically. Naruto's anger began to get the best of him, he was slowly slipping into his first tail Kyuubi state with ever word the voice taunted him with. He let out a chakra blast and the black void disappeared. He was back on the bridge, and Tazuna and Inari were looking from the sidelines towards the battle. Naruto saw that Chuugo lay in front of him completely knocked out. _**Chuugo must have put me under a genjutsu.**_ He surmised that Chuugo was probably as good as or even far better than Kurenai-sensei at genjutsus. He also figured out the when he let out some of the Kyuubi's power that the chakra wave knocked out Chuugo and cancelled the very real genjutsu. Naruto shook his head to get the images of a dead Hinata out of his mine, but the voice he heard in the genjutsu rang in his head. _**'It is awful to lose your heart's desire isn't?'**_ Naruto nodded his head; it was hell losing what your heart desired.

Naruto looked around, he saw Tomo down for the count at the edge of the bridge along with Iwao. Close to where Neji stood laid Ryuuta unconscious. Neji was covered in electrical burns, but they did not stop him from running over to Sasuke who was on the floor writhing in pain. Akito laughed as Neji took Sasuke to Sakura who looked like she had been clawed at by some animal. Kiba was next to her wincing in pain with Akamaru next to him whimpering in pain. Chuugo got up and recovered from the shock of Naruto, and he went over to stand next to Akito. Ryuuta also got and stood on Akito's other side. Naruto went over to his team. Sakura just finished taking care of Sasuke who got up to stand next to Naruto with Neji on Naruto's other side. Akito smirked, it would come down to a three on three battle, and Naruto wanted nothing more than to beat the crap out of Akito, and claim Hinata for himself.

**So you finally admit it, huh? **Kyuubi chuckled. Naruto smiled.

_**Yeah, I really do love her, and this bastard is not going to take her away from me!**_ Naruto thought as he got into a fighting stance.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Hmm…I wonder what could keeping Tazuna and Inari? They should be back by now. They said it was minor repairs, and they even have Naruto and his team with them." Tsunami thought aloud. Kokoa just sat at the table looking out the window; she had a bad feeling that she could not shake off.

Knock. Knock.

Both women looked to the door, and Tsunami walked over to open the door. "Hello can I help yo…Oh, hi there, Mina, are you looking for Inari?" Tsunami greeted the brunette girl who was the same age as Inari. Mina's blue eyes looked at Tsunami with concern.

"No, no. There is a commotion on the bridge, and I just wanted to see if you knew what was going on. It seems like a battle of some sort…" Mina said. As soon as her voice began trailing off, Tsunami was out the door heading for the bridge. Kokoa jumped off her chair to chase after Tsunami. If Mina is right, the bridge was no place for Tsunami to be; even if she wanted to make sure her family is alright.

"Tsunami, come back! I am sure they are fine!" Kokoa yelled, but to no avail. Kokoa sighed. _**Guess I am heading towards the bridge.**_

* * *

**Me: **Alright so this is the longest chapter I have ever done for I Need You! I hope you all enjoyed it!  
**Naruto:** Wow it took a genjutsu for me to realize my feelings for Hinata...  
**Me: **Yup! Tehe, oh that reminds me I want some feed back on the whole genjutsu part. Did you think it was good? I liked it, but then again I just love the idea of NaruHina children! Oh if some of you are wondering why I gave Miyako red hair, it is because Kushina (Naruto's mom) had red hair, so I thought oh that would be so cool for NaruHina child to have red hair!  
**Miyako:** Hiya! Anyway, Next chapter Kokoa's identity is revealed, and the fight between Akito and Naruto begins! YAY!  
**Kushika:** Oh...L-Lexar w-wanted me to give the E-English translation of some of the words used here. Okaa-san means mommy, Otoo-san means daddy, koi means love, and oba-san means aunt.  
**Me: **Well that's it hope you enjoy the chapter!  
**Hinata: **Don't forget to review and give Lexar your feedback.


	8. Ch 8: May the Mask Fall

**_Ch. 8: May the Mask Fall_**

Her legs burned from their use. She had sprinted from her house to the bridge as fast as she could. She could feel her heart beat against her ribcage; she was beginning to fear that her heart just might bust through. Her blue eyes locked on Tsunami back; she could have easily taken over Tsunami in running, but she was in disguise. If she ran at her full speed, her secret would be out, but in the pit of her gut she could sense that her secret would not remain a secret for much longer.

Naruto made it extremely difficult for her to not take out her blue colored contacts and let loose her indigo hair from the tight braid, so she could scream. 'It's me, Naruto-kun! It's Hinata, and I love you!' But she knew she would never do that. For one, she has been in love with the blonde ninja for as long as she could remember, and she still has not confessed to him. Number two, she worked so hard to fight the destiny that her clan had set for her. There is no way that she would succumb to the petty wishes of the Hyuga council. All they wanted right now was power, and to use her. She would not degrade all her hard work just so her clan could use her. No, she is stronger now. She is not the same weak and timid girl she once was. Kokoa picked up her pace so she could stop Tsunami from entering the bridge. Just as her hand was about to grabbed Tsunami's, Tsunami began sprinting even faster. Kokoa looked at her in utter shock as she kept running. _**Who knew she had it in her? It must be the adrenaline rush from her fear of losing her family…that would explain it. **_Kokoa thought as they arrived at the bridge. Tsunami scanned the bridge to see the rubble from an obvious battle. She fought back tears as her fears about her family were. Then her eyes landed on her family on the other side of the bridge. She let out a sigh of relief and also a yell.

"Father! Inari! I'm so glad you are alright!" Tsunami yelled. Unfortunately her cry grabbed the attention of Akito and his gang.

"Well, look who joined the party. Ryuuta and Chuugo, I believe you can take care of these three while I take care of our guest." Akito said as he ran towards Tsunami with a kunai ready to kill.

"TSUNAMI!!" Tazuna yelled.

"MOM, RUN!" Inari yelled, but his mother was too frozen stiff to move. Neji and Sasuke were a little preoccupied by their opponents to stop Akito, so it was up to Naruto. Naruto sprinted and was quickly catching up to Akito…

"Doton: Doryudan!" Iwao cried as he slowly got up. A dragon head appeared next to him and began spewing concentrated mud at Naruto. Naruto was forced to turn his attention to Iwao in order to dodge the attack. He dodges effortlessly and was about to attack Iwao, but Iwao slumped to his knees. Apparently that last move took out most of his energy. Naruto turned to see if he could still save Tsunami, but what he saw shocked him.

Kokoa easily deflected Akito's attack and took the kunai right out of his hands. Akito looked shocked at Kokoa for being able to do that. She was no ninja, she was wearing civilian clothes, and he could not sense any chakra emitting from her.

"Tsunami, run! I'll hold him off!" Kokoa yelled at Tsunami. Tsunami nodded and ran towards her family. Kokoa stared down Akito with determination in her eyes and stance. Akito chuckled.

"So you got lucky, and you think you can beat me? Ha! I'll show you the power of the Narumi Clan! GYUG…" Akito was cut off from activating his kekkei genkai by Naruto's fist in his gut. Akito was sent skidding across the bridge. Naruto smirked and turned to face Kokoa.

"That was really awesome, Kokoa, but I want you to take Tazuna and his family and get out of here! Got it?" Naruto commanded as he put his hands on her shoulders. Kokoa thought about arguing with him, but thought better of it. She nodded and ran over to Tazuna's family to escort them off the bridge. Once Kokoa got them all off the bridge, Naruto turned his attention to Akito who was slowly getting up. "What back for more?" Naruto teased haughtily.

"If that is all you got, Naruto, then this fight will be over quickly. So shall we begin?"Akito asked as he got into his fighting stance. Naruto smirked.

"Yes, let's." Naruto said as he charged in towards Akito. Akito activated his Gyugan, but was unable to use it on Naruto. Naruto was moving too fast for Akito to make perfect eye contact with him to ensure that his kekkei genkai would do its damage. Naruto could not hit Akito either. He was amazing at dodging Naruto's attacks. The blonde ninja thought about using the Rasengan, but figured it would be a waste of chakra since he could even get a single hit on Akito.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Neji stared down Ryuuta for the second time that day. Ryuuta wavered slightly, now that he was aware that it would take more than his usual tricks to defeat Neji. Ryuuta decided that electricity was not the best way to go about defeating the Hyuga genius, so he decided that maybe blinding him with lighting and deafening him with thunder would give him the advantage, since his senses would be completely useless temporarily, but while he was coming up with a strategy, Neji pounced.

"Hakke Hyaku Nijuhachi Sho!" Neji cried as he moved quickly and closed 128 tenketsu. Ryuuta fell, but then poofed. Neji growled, he wasted his attack on a clone. Neji used his Byakugan to search for his opponent, but instead found chakra signals being sent into the air. All of a sudden, the clouds around Neji became dark and menacing. _**A thunder storm? **_Neji thought as he got back on the defensive. As he was ready to defend himself he felt rocks form around him. It seemed to form the shape of Gaara's sand coffin, but instead it used stones. Neji tried to wiggle free, but he was stuck on the ground, as the rocks slowly began to crush him.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sasuke and Chuugo were dead even in a battle of genjutsu. They were effectively casting and cancelling genjutsus at such a speed that even Kurenai could be proud of. Neither side was going to give in. It was no longer a battle of survival, but a battle of supremacy. Who was the better genjutsu user? That was the two wanted to find out. Chuugo chuckled through the fatigued. It had been a long time since he met someone of his caliber. Sasuke smirked, he absolutely loved showing people up, especially his enemies…and Naruto. However, they were both so into the battle that they did not even notice the rocks forming a coffin around Sasuke until Sasuke felt the rocks beginning to crush him.

"Hmm…seems like this is almost over. As soon as Iwao captures your blonde friend in his jutsu, we can continue our search of Hinata-sama." Chuugo smiled which made Sasuke sick. Sasuke knew he would have won if Iwao had not interfered. He was just about to let loose his trump card in genjutsus.

Neji, Sakura, Kiba, Akamaru, Sasuke, Chuugo, Iwao, and Ryuuta began watching Naruto's and Akito's fight. Still neither of them could hit each other, but it was a fight worth watching.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kokoa ran towards the bridge again. After she escorted Tazuna and his family back to their home, she decided to run back towards the bridge. She felt like something was calling her to go back. She did not know why, but she felt like she needed to be there. She picked up her speed as the feeling increased. _**Naruto-kun…**_

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Naruto finally landed a nice right hook on Akito's right cheek. Akito staggered back, but regained his footing and turned fast enough to catch Naruto off guard with his kunai to slice Naruto on his left cheek. Naruto charged at him with two shadow clones following close behind. Akito easily disposed of the two shadow clones by throwing two shurikan with lethal accuracy, but he was not able to stop the real Naruto from landing a nice uppercut to Akito. Akito fell back, but could feel Iwao building up his chakra to use his jutsu again. All Akito had to do now was stall until Iwao could muster the very little chakra he had left. He could count on the pink haired kunoichi and the dog man with his canine sidekick to not interfere since they were too injured to move, and the medic used up most of her chakra fighting Tomo. Akito ducked in time to dodge a right hook from Naruto. Akito punched Naruto in the gut, and then punched him in the face when Naruto doubled over in pain from the gut shot. Naruto took a couple steps back, but he was not about to surrender.

**Use some of my chakra! We can massacre this guy in no time flat if you do!** Kyuubi growled inside of Naruto. He longed for Akito's blood more than anything. Naruto shook his head.

_**No, I will defeat him on my own power! He will not take Hinata from me, and I will prevent that with my own strength! **_Naruto answered right back as he got a Rasengan ready. Just as the Rasengan was about to land on Akito, Iwao let out his jutsu with the last of his chakra.

"Doton: Ganban Kyu!" He cried as a rock coffin formed around Naruto, cancelling out the Rasengan and slowly crushing Naruto. Akito walked up to the newly confined Naruto with a swagger to his step that made Naruto seethe with anger.

"GYUGAN!" Akito cried as he used his kekkei genkai on Naruto. Naruto could feel his blood turn to acid coursing through his veins. His entire body was in so much pain. He let out a scream of pain escape his lips, but he refused to let another out. He bit down on his lip splitting the skin and drawing blood. Naruto could not take the pain anymore, it was driving him insane. He hadn't felt this way since…

_**Hinata-chan…**_

The image of a lifeless Hinata in a hospital room came to his mind. The feeling of pain he had felt during the genjutsu was a million times worse than the pain he felt now. He could feel his body writhing in pain, but he was in complete control of himself. He would not give in to Akito no matter what. He would do anything to protect Hinata; he knew he could not bear to see that image of her in that state ever again, so he knew he could not lose here!

Naruto began valiantly fighting back against Akito's Gyugan, but to no avail. It was too powerful. "Well, since he won't help me find Hinata-chan; I will just dispose of him." Akito said as he pulled out his kunai and held it out towards Naruto. He pulled back on the kunai in order to get optimal power behind his thrust when he would plunge it into Naruto's heart. Naruto still wincing in pain, braced himself for the impending kunai, but it never came. He opened his eyes, that he had not even realized he closed to see Kokoa standing in front of him blocking Akito's attack with one of Akito's own kunai he used earlier.

"Kokoa, what are you doing here? It is dangerous here! Get back to the house!" Naruto yelled despite the pain of the Gyugan's influence. Kokoa turned to him with a shy smile on her face that reminded him so much of Hinata.

"No, I want to thank-you and this is how I will do that." Kokoa answered.

"Thank me? What have I ever done for you?" Naruto asked clearly confused. Kokoa smiled as she sighed. _**Should I? Well, it doesn't matter now. I'll do anything to make sure they don't get hurt anymore.**_ Kokoa thought.

"You have done so many things that you do not even know about. Just by simply smiling you saved me." Kokoa began. Naruto's jaw dropped. _**Those are lines from Hinata-chan's letter, but how would Kokoa know them? I never let her read it. I never let anyone read it actually… **_Naruto thought, but soon snapped his jaw shut as he winced in pain. Kokoa saw his pain and cringed as she turned to face Akito. "Let him go!"

"Who are you to make me?" Akito asked with superiority in his tone. Kokoa smiled softly as she let loose her hair from its braid. Her indigo tresses fell like a cascading waterfall, just like Hinata's. She then raised her hands to her blue eyes to take out the contacts. When they were discarded, her true lavender eyes shone through.

"I am Hinata Hyuga, Heiress to the Hyuga Clan, and unfortunately…I am your fiancé, so I believe that gives me the right to say this. LET HIM GO NOW!" Hinata fumed. Her actions surprised Akito so much that he deactivated his Gyugan, and finally let Naruto stop feeling the pain of acid for blood. However, Naruto did not even realize that he was freed from the kekkei genkai. He was too busy string at the woman he had not seen in what felt like an eternity.

"Hinata-chan?" Naruto asked in disbelief. Hinata turned to face him with a worried yet happy look on her face.

"Yes, it's me, Naruto-kun." She answered. Naruto just kept staring at her. He could not form any coherent thought except for how much he missed her, and how badly he wanted to hold her right then. "I thought I told you not to come after me."

"I had to, Hinata-chan, because you mean so much to me, that I could not imagine you out of my life. Hinata-chan, please don't ever run away like this again. You have no idea how much I missed you." Naruto lovingly said to her. Hinata blushed as those words reached her ears. She did not even notice her cousin or her other friends calling her name to get her attention. All that she noticed was the very handsome blonde man in front of her.

"Well, I hate to ruin this moment, but now that I found Hinata-chan, we will be going. Come on Hinata, there is a wedding to prepare for." Akito said as he grabbed Hinata's hand. Naruto began to seethe with jealousy and rage.

"No." Hinata sternly answered as she yanked her hand out of Akito's.

"No what?"

"No, I am not Hinata-chan to you. To you I am Hyuga-san. Secondly, I refuse to get married to someone who ruthlessly attacked my comrades when they did nothing to provoke you to. I am sorry, but I will not be going back with you." Hinata answered with as much poise and strength that she did not even realize she had. Akito went livid.

"NOONE SAYS NO TO ME!" Akito growled as he charged Hinata. Hinata slipped into her Jyuuken fighting stance ready for her fight with Akito.

"BYAKUGAN!"

* * *

**Me: **HEY HEY! I am back with a new chapter, so sorry for the wait. However I kinda like how this chapter came out. Hinata finally reveals herself! YES!  
**Hinata: **Oh and I am going to fight Akito?  
**Me:** HELL YES! IT IS GOING TO BE EPIC!  
**Sai:** What about us, Crazy Lady?  
**Me: **What did you call me?  
**Sai: **Crazy Lady...it's your new nickname.  
**Me: **Okay I can live with it. Oh you're group will be coming next chapter too, along with an uber pissed off Naruto! So please keep reading!  
**Hinata: **Oh I heard you wanted to do a sequel to this story.  
**Me: **Oh that's right! I want everyone's opinion should I make this story into a trilogy? The details on the sequels are on my profile and they are under Stories I Might Do. So please tell me if you think I should.  
**Naruto: **Please review dattebayo!


	9. Ch 9: Battle Royale

__

Dear Readers,

_I would first like to say that I know I told some of you that the next chapter of I Need You would probably be out next week, but as you can see it was a much shorter wait. There are many reasons why, but the main reason is that I need to redeem myself._

_Some reviewers have pointed out that Naruto's fighting was very weak in the last chapter. I completely agree with them, he was. I did that on purpose though. Here are my reasons why:_

**1. Naruto just got out of a very powerful genjutsu, and used up a lot of chakra to get out of it. Yes, I know his chakra replenishes quickly, and that is in this chapter. Plus, Akito used his Gyugan on Sasuke for the entire time Naruto was in the genjutsu, so he is low on chakra as well, hence why Iwao had to interfere with the fight with the last of his chakra.**

**2. I need Hinata to fight Akito for plot reasons…I can't tell you why it is necessary, but I can tell you that you will find out soon enough.**

**3. I planned it out that Naruto would get a chance to recuperate from the genjutsu and his fist fight with Akito as he sits on the sidelines, and once he is recuperated (it won't take long) he will show why he is the future Hokage! He will have different jutsus which he did not have in the manga/anime. Just don't expect the fight to be long…Naruto is pretty strong and smart.**

**4. He needed to have a weak fight, so Hinata could feel the need to intervene and reveal herself. **

_I hope this clears up everything, and if you have any questions, critics, praises, feel free to tell me because I love getting all of them because they all push me to be a better writer. So, to all the reviewers who pointed this out, I thank-you and I hope this chapter makes up for it. Also, to the reviewers who gave me very positive feedback I thank-you as well because you also inspired me to write the next chapter faster! Hope you enjoy this chapter and that it makes up for the sucky fighting scene in the last one._

**Lexar**

**

* * *

****_Ch. 9: Battle Royale_**

"BYAKUGAN!" Hinata yelled as she slipped into her fighting stance. Akito charged at her with the intent to kill. Hinata was using her kekkei genkai and her past knowledge to figure out the best way to fight Akito. _**Alright let's see…his Gyugan traps his opponents much like how the Sharigan snares their victims, so if I avoid eye-contact I should be fine. However, I have heard that they can control the blood in another way, but I do not remember what it was…well for now I'll just focus on his tenketsu and try to close them, that should work. **_Hinata thought as Akito came at her, but stop half way through his charge to take a soldier pill, and started to perform many hand seals.

"Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu!" A huge dragon made of water sprung forth from the water under the bridge and headed straight for Hinata. The Hyuga heiress smiled as she decided how she would counter.

"Hakkeshō Kaiten" Her chakra came out of her as she spun around to form an impenetrable shield that broke the water dragon. The water from the dragon started to rain down on Akito and Hinata. "Suiton: Suishōha!" The water that was in the air became a spiraling vortex that the top exploded into a huge wave. Hinata used her hands to direct the huge wave towards Akito.

"Very impressive, Hinata-chan, but not good enough! Suiton: Suiryūben!" The water from Hinata's jutsu turned into an orb of water that surrounded Akito and sent out multiple water whips towards Hinata. Hinata did a back flip to avoid the first whip. The second almost hit her before she landed, but she was able to tuck herself into a ball in mid-air to dodge it. The third one came at her on her right while the fourth came from the left. Hinata jumped up as high as she could into the air, narrowly missing both attacks. As she was in the air a fifth whip came at her, but she had no way to dodge it. The water whip hit her with full force, and set her flying to the ground with force. Akito began laughing evilly as Hinata slowly got up. Crimson blood dripped down out of the corner of her mouth. She held onto her side in pain, but Hinata was far from done.

"Like I said before it's Hyuga-san!" Hinata charged with determination in her eyes. She could tell Akito was tired from his last jutsu, so this was her chance to close his tenketsus. She was a little worried, she had not used this move in battle yet, and she was not sure she would be able to pull it off, but it was now or never! "Hakke Sanbyakurokujūichi Shiki!" This technique is the ultimate technique of the Hyuga Clan. It closes all 361 chakra points, paralyzing them with each blow, and when the last blow hits, the victim's last breath is certain to follow. Hinata mastered the Eight Trigrams 128 Palms, and she had been working on this one, but she was not yet confident. Little did she know she executed the move perfectly.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Neji stared at his cousin in awe as he broke out of his rock prison by sending out his chakra out of his tenketsus in order to break the rock. As soon as he was freed he ran over to Sasuke to get him free as well. Ryuuta and Chuugo were to absorb in Hinata's and Akito's fight to notice the stealthy Neji free himself.

"Wow, Hinata, is amazing." Sasuke whispered in awe. He would never have thought Hinata could be that strong. Yes, he had heard of her mastering her element of water, and that she was becoming very proficient in the Hyuga style of fighting, but he would never have imagined this.

"Yes, she is. Akito is as good as dead once she hits him the final time. No one has ever survived that attack." Neji smirked in pride of his cousin's accomplishment. He freed the Uchiha with little to no problem at all. "Alright, they caught us by surprise. I say we do the same to them."

"Yes, they have not noticed that we escaped, so I have an idea." Sasuke smirked.

"Don't mangle them too much, we still need them alive. Tsunade-sama will want them alive to interrogate them. Since they attacked us for no apparent reason, she is going to believe that Hinata was not their only motivation."

"Maybe she is…" Sasuke trailed off, but Neji looked at him curiously.

"What do you mean?"

"It's probably nothing. Let's just focus on capturing those guys, and helping Sakura and Kiba." Sasuke said as he pulled out his sword.

"What about Naruto? We need to free him too." Neji said. Sasuke smirked and let out a small chuckle.

"Naruto is the next Hokage; he can take care of himself. Besides turn on your Byakugan, and you'll see what I mean." Sasuke replied as he slowly made his way to the oblivious Chuugo and Ryuuta. Neji did as he was told and could see that Naruto was using this time to rest. His chakra reserves were replenishing quickly, and were almost to full capacity. _**He is just letting Akito think he is out for the count, but he is just biding his time. Very clever Naruto…**_ Neji thought. He decided to turn his attention to his cousin who was very low on chakra, but was in the middle of the last blow.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Akito's body fell forward onto the floor. Hinata began gasping for air; the attack took a lot more out of her than she thought. She still needed to work on her endurance for the attack and her speed, but she was able to do it. She smiled at her accomplishment, but the only problem was explaining to the Hokage why Akito is dead. That will be fun. Then something strange began happening to Akito's body. It started to turn crimson. She took off her Byakugan, since it was not helping her figure out why Akito was turning to red. On closer inspection, she realized that his entire body was made out of blood. The blood began losing Akito's shape and turned into a puddle of deep crimson blood. Hinata stared wide-eyed at the puddle.

"Impressed? It is called, Ketsueki Bunshin no jutsu. It is exactly like the shadow clone jutsu except it is far more powerful. You see instead of dividing the user's chakra evenly between the clones and user, the blood clones are exact copies of the user. In other words, I do not have to split my chakra amongst my blood clones because they have the same amount of chakra as I do. The only downside to the jutsu is that it takes up a lot of chakra, but that's why there are soldier pills." Akito explained as he popped his second soldier pill into his mouth. Hinata glared at him, but her legs gave in under her. The jutsu took too much out of her; she could barely move her arms. "That technique of yours is amazing, and the fact that you executed it perfectly is a testament to your skill, but you wasted it on a blood clone. Now, Hinata-chan, last chance, come with me now, and I will put this whole thing behind me."

Hinata looked at Akito. _**If I go with him everything I have done would have been in vain! There is no way I will throw away everything I have done to improve myself , and to prove myself to Naruto-kun for. **_Though Hinata could barely move a muscle due to her extreme chakra exhaustion, that was going to be the last time she did high-level water jutsus followed by the most powerful Hyuga technique, she slowly stood up. All that watched her slowly stood up thought back to the Genin Hinata who refused to stay down in her fight with Neji during the Chuunin exams. Her will of fire never left her eyes as she stared down Akito. "I will not go with you! And for the last time it is HYUGA-SAN TO YOU!" Hinata yelled as she held her torso in pain. Akito laughed. He realized that Hinata was staring directly into his eyes, this was what he was trying to get her to do during their entire fight.

"GYUGAN!" Akito yelled as he activated his kekkei genkai on Hinata. Hinata let out a yell of agony as she clutched her torso even tighter as she fell to the ground. This time Akito decided that making her blood feel like acid was not enough, so he did something he always wanted to do to someone. He altered between making her blood feel like acid to feeling like frozen nitrogen (which is very very cold!). The concept behind this is to slowly kill the person while causing them to go insane at the same time. "Well, than die, Bitch!"

"RASENGAN!" Naruto yells as he brings his Rasengan towards Akito. Akito stops his kekkei genkai and tries to dodge Naruto's attack, but is held down by two of his shadow clones. The Rasengan hits Akito square in the chest sending him flying across the bridge. "Take that, Bastard."Naruto was very pissed off at Akito. No one hurts Hinata and lives to tell about it. As Akito flew, Naruto sent a shadow clone to take Hinata to Sakura where she would be safer. Naruto then noticed that the Akito he used the Rasengan on, was actually a blood clone. Naruto snarled as he began searching the area for Akito. He sensed Akito's chakra flare up randomly. _**He just used a soldier pill, but by the feel of his chakra, he took two. Well, that's not smart because now I can find him. Time to try out this new technique. **_"Fūton: Kami Oroshi!" Naruto formed a vortex (this word is so fun) of wind and sent it in the direction where he sensed Akito's chakra spike. Akito dodged it barely. Akito stood in front of Naruto staring him down, but Naruto would not look him in the eye. _**Based on my previous fight, he is fast, but not faster than me now. Also, if I stare him in the eye, I will fall into his trap, so I can't do that. Hinata had her Byakugan, so she was able to avoid until she took it off. Hmmm…wait! Guy watches Kakashi's feet when he fights against Kakashi's Sharigan, so maybe the same thing could work here.**_ Naruto thought.

**Not a bad idea there kid, but I say you should use my chakra! Come on don't you want to obliterate this guy? **Kyuubi coaxed. Naruto really wanted to give into Kyuubi's request, but he could not risk his teammates getting hurt by the Kyuubi. Naruto had perfect control of the Kyuubi up to seven tails, he was currently working with Yamato to get the eight tails under control, but it is harder than he originally thought. Besides, it was too easy to slip from seven tails to eight tails, and he would not be the reason his teammates got injured. Besides, he wanted to do this out of his own strength and power. He was the next Hokage, and he did not need to depend on some stupid furball to kick some bastard's ass.

"Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu!" A powerful column of water was sent flying at Naruto. The blonde ninja smirked as he began performing hand signs.

"Fūton: Kazekiri no Jutsu!" Naruto cried as he summoned a large slicing wind to head towards the column of water. The wind sliced through the water, completely negating the attack. Akito looked shocked, but quickly regained himself as he charged at Naruto. Naruto and Akito began exchanging blows, but unfortunately for Akito, Naruto already got his fighting style memorized and was able to dodge his attacks. Akito, however was having a more difficult time dodging Naruto's. Naruto had no set fighting style, he used a combination of different taijutsu styles, but blended them so they would flow right into each other. Naruto punched Akito square in the gut, and sent Akito skidding a couple of feet.

"Alright, enough messing around with you! It is time I end this! Sui…" Akito began with rage in his voice but he was cut off by a kunai pressed against his throat. Naruto stood behind him with an angered glare in his eyes, but he was very careful not to look at Akito directly in the eyes. "H-how d-did you…"

"Appear before you? That's simple, Hirashin no jutsu. My father, Konoha's Yellow Flash, used this technique, so it only makes sense that his son used it too." Naruto answered with a smirk on his face.

"I know all about that technique, but how did you get it to…"

"Simple, while we were fighting earlier, I placed a small sheet of paper with the Hirashin's formula on it, on you. I was going to use the technique when I gathered enough chakra, so here we are." Naruto said the last part with a subtle threat-like tone in it. "Now I don't want to kill you…" _**That's a complete lie, after what he did to Hinata-chan, I should massacre this guy!**_ "But, I will if you do not cooperate. So this is what I want you to do: you are going to be a good little ninja and not struggle as I tie you up, you will also not give me any trouble when I hand you and your team over to Ibiki. He has been pretty bored lately, so your team should provide enough entertainment for him until we figure out what to do. Got it?"

"Understood." Akito grumbled. Naruto smirked as he was just about to start tying him up when he felt four more chakra signatures coming towards them. Naruto slowly began pulling out a kunai to defend himself.

"Oi, Naruto, no need to do that to your back-up." One of the chakra signatures called out. Naruto smiled to himself as he placed the kunai back into his pouch.

"Well, about time you guys showed up! You missed the fight!" Naruto yelled out to Shikamaru, Shino, Sai, and Choji.

"Yeah, sorry about that." Choji replied. Shino walked straight over to his teammates and let out a small unnoticeable sigh of relief when he saw Hinata. Sai headed towards the Iwao, who fell unconscious after trapping Naruto in his jutsu, and Tomo to tie them up.

"What do you need us to do?" Shikamaru asked even though he could pretty much figure out what needed to be done.

"Well if you could finish arresting this guy here, and if Choji could give Sakura a soldier pill so she could work on our injuries that would be great." Naruto said as he handed Akito to Shikamaru. Both ninja did as they were told and Naruto slowly walked over to Hinata who was in the middle of being healed by Sakura who just took the soldier pill. Naruto waited until everyone was done fussing over Hinata being back. When Sakura moved on from Hinata to Sasuke and Neji, Kiba, Akamaru, and Shino went to go help Choji, Sai, and Shikamaru gather up their new prisoners. Hinata sat where she was, since she was still tired from her battle with Akito.

**Well go on! What are you waiting for? She is alone. It is time to talk to her.** The Kyuubi growled in exasperation. Naruto rubbed the back of his head nervously.

_**It's not that simple. **_Naruto said.

**Oh and why not?**

_**...**_

**So you are going to give up on her then?**

_**No, I don't believe I will ever stop loving her like this, but…**_

**But what? Don't you NEED her?**

_**I do…it's just…**_

**Whenever you want to start making ****sense just let me know.**

_**It's like what Ero-sennin said to me while he was training me, **__**'**__**Immature love says: 'I love you because I need you.' Mature love says 'I need you because I love you.' **_

**What does that quote have to do with anything?**

_**I need her, but it's scary. No one has ever had this much of a hold on me. If she rejects me…I just don't know. Plus, she loves someone else…**_

**Well, it's your life.** With that Kyuubi went silent to leave Naruto to his thoughts. Naruto sighed, but started to walk towards Hinata.

_**It's now or never.**_

**

* * *

****I hope that everyone enjoys this chapter! I really liked the fighting scene with Hinata and Akito, but I kinda wish I made the Akito vs. Naruto fight longer, but I don't want to give Akito too much credit haha!**

**Also, I would really love some feedback on the fighting scenes. Did I redeem myself for the crappy fighting scene last chapter? Did Naruto seem more Hokage like? Wasn't Hinata awesome? Please give me your opinions! Okay the next chapter will probably come out in the next week or two, but I don't know. I do know that it will not be a back to back update like this though.**

**Anyway, the quote that inspired the title of my story is here! Yay! The quote is said by Erich Fromm! Tehe so happy I got it in this chapter! Anyway please review!**


	10. Ch 10: Stay With Me

**Me: **Hola everyone! It is I, Lexar, returning from the dead! Well actually…it has not been that long since my last update but whatever.  
**Tsunade:** Just get on with the story already! I need to get back to my sake.  
**Me: **Right, right…Anyway what I wanted to say was that, school has started for me, so updates will be sporadic. I will try to update every weekend, but I won't promise anything. Especially since I took 6 AP classes…  
**Tsunade:** 6 AP CLASSES? WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?  
**Me: **It seemed like a good idea at the time *sweatdrop*  
**Tsunade:** Here *offers her sake bottle*  
**Me: **What's this for?  
**Tsunade: **You need it more than me.  
**Me: **Thanks.*accepts sake*  
*Tsunade and Lexar drink*  
**Shizune: **Hehe well enjoy the chapter. *sweatdrop*

* * *

**_Ch. 10: Stay With Me_**

She absolutely detested politics. No, detest is not a strong enough word to describe her utter hatred for politics. The closest thing to describe her hate towards politics would be…

"I hate politics with white hot intensity of a thousand suns!" The blonde Godaime cried out as she rubbed her temples to soothe the oncoming headache. She leaned back in her chair as she stared at the ceiling. She was going to kill Naruto after this. He would feel her almighty wrath when he returned. He **FORCED** her to get involved into even more politics than she usually did.

Being Hokage, she is always surrounded by politics. In fact, she did not mind the usually politics she had to deal with. Dealing with the other Kages was not bad at all. They all respected her and she them. It's damn hard running a ninja village, and whoever does ran one deserves a hell of a lot of respect for it! A great part of it was, that it was not hard to get the other Kages to accept Naruto as the next Hokage. They all greatly respect him after he took down the Akatsuki when he was only sixteen. Naruto also won them over with his personality. His gift of getting people to bet their hopes on him won them over. For that Tsunade is more than happy, but right now she was not dealing with her normal politics. In fact, she was not even dealing with Konohagakure politics. She was dealing with the vilest form of politics that had ever been born in the history of the ninja world. Clan Politics.

Oh she hated getting involved with clans. She normally avoided it if she could. She normally did not have any problems with how the clans ran themselves. Of course she disagreed with some parts of clan politics; for example, the Hyuga Clan Caged Bird Seal, but it was never an issue that she felt she had to get involved in. That would be Naruto's job, since the gaki decided to change the Hyuga. Though, Tsunade could not deny how proud she was of the knucklehead.

Tsunade sat up straight as she mulled over in her head the best way to approach this situation. She was defiantly going to massacre Naruto for **MAKING **her get involved with the whole Hinata thing. Did she agree with it? Of course not! She grew very fond of the quiet, polite, yet strong Hyuga girl who unknowingly captured Naruto's heart, but it was not her place to get involved. However, the look Naruto had on his face when he found out that Hinata was to be engaged to someone, broke her heart. Granted she was not going to give him an easy time. She was not simply going to let him go on a mission to find Hinata without some difficulty; after all, he was supposed to be inaugurated in a week or so. Tsunade sighed as she poured herself another shot of sake.

"Tsunade-sama, Hiashi-sama, is here to see you." Shizune announced as she walked in with Tonton in her arms.

"Bring him in, Shizune." Tsunade replied as she grabbed a second cup for Hiashi, she figured he would want some sake during this discussion. Shizune nodded, and disappeared to only reappear a few seconds later with Hiashi next to her.

"Hello, Godaime-sama." Hiashi greeted with the utmost politeness that the Hyuga where known for, but one could still feel the air of pride (almost haughtiness) that the Hyuga's carried themselves with.

"Hello, Hiashi-sama, please have a seat we have much to discuss." Hiashi sat across from Tsunade's desk in the chair she gestured to as she spoke. Once they were both sitting down Tsunade poured some more sake for herself. "Would you like some?" Hiashi simply nodded as Tsunade poured some for the Hyuga. "Well, let's get right down to the problem and cut out all the formalities. How did the Hyuga council take to my disagreement?"

"The council respects your concern, but they feel Hinata marrying Akito would be a major asset to Konoha." Hiashi answered.

"Yes, yes, treaty with Iwa, great and all, but there is no need for it." Tsunade waved her right hand in a dismissive fashion. "Iwa has already signed a treaty with us due to Naruto."

"Tsunade-sama, you do not need to convince me. I am opposed to this union as much as you are, but the council needs to be appeased. I was able to hold them off until now from marrying off Hinata, but since Hinata is currently has no suitor…I had no argument against the council." Hiashi stated with a barely noticeable sad undertone. Tsunade nodded. "Aside from that, they said that there is nothing about Akito Narumi that makes him unfit to marry Hinata, therefore they will not change their minds about it." Hiashi finished as he took the last sips of his sake.

"In other words, the only way Akito could not marry Hinata is if he is a missing-nin!" Tsunade let out a sarcastic exasperated comment. The Hyuga Clan was the worst clan to get involved with. All their rules, and stubbornness made them the worst clan to deal with. Tsunade placed her elbows on her desk and laced her fingers together in order to rest he chin on her hand. _**This is even more of a pain than I had originally thought…**_ "Well, it seems for now, we cannot do anything. I will wait for Naruto's and Shikamaru's teams to return before we decide what course will be taken to avoid this marriage."

"Very well. I will speak to you later than?" Hiashi asked as he stood up along with Tsunade.

"Yes, I will contact you as soon as I know anything." Tsunade confirmed as she watched Hiashi bow and walk out of her office. The second she heard the click of the door closing she sighed and slumped back into her chair. She drank all the sake in her cup before setting the cup down. She grabbed her sake bottle to pour some more, but nothing came out. Tsunade shook the bottle more, and only a measly drop came forth. _**I need more sake…**_

_**------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**_

He could invent jutsus that would make any ninja fear him. He could defeat the Akatsuki at the age of sixteen. He could take down any opponent without batting an eye. He could stare death right in the face and smirk in defiance. He could do things that shinobis double his age could only dream of every accomplishing. Yet, the blonde future Hokage is shaking like a leaf. Why? It is simple, because he was going to tell the Hyuga Princess his feelings for her. No one had ever made Naruto feel like this, even when he had a crush on his bubblegum haired teammate. He gulped, but pressed forward to the Heiress that sat on the bridge trying to recover from chakra exhaustion. She noticed him walk over to her, so she picked up her head to stare up at his cerulean eyes as he stared into her lavender orbs.

_**He has such beautiful eyes…I could stare at them all day.**_

_**She has such gorgeous eyes…I could get lost in them. Not that I would mind that idea.**_

"Hinata-chan." Naruto broke the silence that hung around them as they stared at each other. After he spoke her name, he was at a loss for words. This was rare indeed for Naruto. Hinata saw his hesitation, and decided she needed to say what was on her heart.

"I missed you too, Naruto-kun." Hinata began as her trademark blush found its way onto her pale cheeks. Naruto could feel a slight blush on his tan face as well. He got even closer to her before he sat down next to her.

"Well, I am so glad you are alright. Now we can all go back home. Everyone back home misses you a lot. Konoha was lonely without you, and…"

"Naruto-kun! Please stop." Hinata interrupted. Tears began welling up in her eyes. She was trying to blink them away, but to no avail. Some tears slipped down her cheeks as she hugged her knees closer to her body.

"Hinata-chan, what's wrong? Why are you crying? Aren't you happy?" Naruto asked confused but with concern. It broke his heart to see Hinata cry. He would gladly put a Rasengan into whoever was making Hinata cry.

"I…I…I c-can't g-go b-back w-with y-you." She sobbed and stuttered out. Naruto felt a knot tie in his stomach. _**Hinata not coming back with us? But she will become a missing-nin! She could get seriously hurt! She could even get killed!**_ Naruto thought as Hinata tried desperately to regain her composure. She knew it was going to be hard to not go back to Konoha, but she never imagined it to be this difficult!

**Kit, I suggest you say something to change her mind, or you will be leaving her behind. Please, for the love of all that is right in this world, SAY SOMETHING BEFORE YOU LOSE HER! BAKA! DO SOMETHING!** Kyuubi roared in Naruto's mind. Naruto shook his head to shake off his stupor. The blonde turned to look at Hinata who still allowed some tears to fall down her cheeks. He used his thumb to wipe away her tears, and then held her face in his hand. He felt like his rough hand should not be allowed to caress her soft beautiful skin, but she made no move to stop him and he sure as hell wasn't going to stop.

"Hinata-chan, please don't leave me." Naruto began meekly. He sounded like a wounded puppy, but that was exactly how he felt. The very idea of Hinata leaving him again hurt him beyond the description of words. "Please, stay with me."

"W-why? W-why d-does it m-matter to y-you w-what h-happens to m-me? I k-know w-we are v-very g-good f-friends, b-but w-why go to s-such l-lengths for m-me?" She stuttered out, and the second she did, she regretted it. Hinata did not think her heart could take Naruto saying that it was because she was his friend. Don't get her wrong, she is absolutely thrilled to be a friend of Naruto, but after everything he has done to try to get her back…her hopes of him actually returning her feelings were at an all time high. If he did not love her, she would most certain enter a state of deep depression and stay here in waves, seeing as there is nothing left in Konoha for her.

"Because…" Naruto began trying to word what he was going to tell her right. _**Damn, why is this so hard!**_

**It really isn't, Kit. All you need to say is three little words. The first one starts with 'I' the next starts with 'L' and the last one starts with a 'Y.' JUST SAY IT! **Kyuubi growled in annoyance of his tenant. He had grown to admire Naruto for his strength, and ability as a shinobi, but still the knucklehead would get on the furball's nerves.

"I love you." Naruto whispered, but Hinata heard it. She immediately perked up and looked at Naruto. Her tears ceased coming down her cheeks as she looked deep into those cerulean eyes to see if he meant what she thought he said.

"Excuse me, but what did you say?" Hinata asked with her eyes wide in shock. Naruto took in a deep breath.

"I love you." He said again, but this time with more confidence and love in his voice. Her lavender orbs searched his eyes to see if he meant every word he spoke, and his eyes only held love, nervousness, and longing. Hinata smiled as fresh tears came down her face. "Ah! Did I say something wrong?" Naruto asked frantically.

"No, I am just happy because I never thought you would return my feelings for you." Hinata sobbed as she wiped away her own tears. _**Wait did she say return her feelings? Does that means she…?**_ "I love you too, Naruto-kun. Always have." Naruto smiled a genuine smile as he pulled Hinata close to him as he physically could, and planted his lips on hers. Hinata smiled beneath the kiss and put all her love for Naruto in it, as Naruto did the same for her. Their first kiss was passionate and yet innocent. Just like the two of them. When they pulled away for air, Naruto let out a foxy smile as he looked at the blushing Hinata.

"So, will you stay with me?" Naruto asked praying that she would say yes.

"Forever and always." She replied as she initiated their second kiss. Naruto had never been happier in his life. He deepened the kiss as he pulled even closer to him.

* * *

**Me:** Yuppers, so I hoped you liked the confession. At first I was not going to have Naruto confess to Hinata this chapter. In fact, I kinda wanted someone to interrupt him from doing so, but decided I did not want that.  
**Hinata:** *blushing*  
**Naruto:** Hinata-chan?  
**Me: **I always loved the idea of Naruto confessing to Hinata, so I decided that he should be the one to do that hehe. So what you think Hinata?  
**Hinata:** *faints*  
**Naruto:** HINATA-CHAN!  
**Me:** I'll take that as you loved it! Alright well you know the drill. Review por favor and look forward to the next chapter because another plot twist is underway!


	11. Ch 11: Homeward Journey

**Me: **Ok so this is a filler chapter and not really important, so if you don't feel like reading it, it's okay **BUT** if you don't want to read the whole thing…please read the last two paragraphs of the chapter because that's important.  
**Sasuke:** Hn that's it?  
**Me:** Well, I have some ideas of what to do with this story, but I need some suggestions as to which idea I should do…some of my ideas have to do with what will happen in sequels (so consider it a sneak peek of what is to come), but I really do need help so please read the author's note at the end of the chapter! Please and thank-you!  
**Sasuke: **On with the story.  
**Me:** It's basically NaruHina fluff during the journey back home. I promise though that the next chapters will have the plot twist I was talking about so yay!

* * *

**_Ch: 11- Homeward Journey_**

Crystal blue skies greeted the Rokudaime with a sense of joy. Hinata is found, Akito is currently arrested, the group is on their way home, but most importantly…she returned his feelings.

She the beautiful Hyuga heiress, who could get any guy she wanted, she who is so kind that it was almost hard to believe that she is a ninja, she whose only crime was loving too much, returns his feelings.

It was almost too hard to believe, yet here he is walking home to Konoha with his rough tan hands intertwined with her pale soft ones. He sighed in contentment as he glanced quickly over at her. She had changed back into her regular clothing of a lavender kimono top, with the Hyuga crest blazoned on the back and shoulders, which had a violet sash that wrapped over her stomach. She wore heeled shinobi sandals and her usual ninja pants. Naruto smiled as he took her beauty in. He had not realized how much he missed her until she came back. He brought his attention to where his feet were taking him before she could catch him staring.

Kiba and Akamaru lead the group of ninjas back towards Konoha while Neji scouted out the area with his Byakugan. Shikamaru, Shino, Sai, and Choji watched over their prisoners. Sakura and Sasuke were specifically assigned to watch Akito, and Hinata and Naruto were to give backup to whoever needed it. That was the setup Shikamaru came up with, and so far it is working perfectly, but who could expect anything less from the genius of the Nara family?

Sasuke smiled as he watched the new couple holding hands and stealing glances at each other when the other was not looking. Normally something like this would have made Sasuke sick with so much sappiness, but he simply smiled. After everything Naruto had been through, especially after everything the Uchiha put Naruto through, the blonde deserved someone who could make him happy, and Sasuke knew for a fact that someone was Hyuga Hinata. Sasuke laughed internally as he saw the irony of this situation. He, the ice-cube of the group, was the first person to notice Naruto's feelings for the girl. Hinata's feelings for Naruto were far from secretive, but Naruto's were harder to pinpoint since he himself did not realize it. It first started with Naruto always sitting next to the Hyuga girl wherever they all went out to eat. Then he would always try to talk to her. When she entered the room he instantly gravitated towards her, but the real moment that truly let Sasuke know that his friend was in love was that one night…

***FLASH BACK***

_Sasuke sat at the bench with Naruto just talking about random things. Naruto was unusually quiet this night, and oddly enough, Sasuke was disturbed by the unusual scenario of himself being the one carrying out the conversation with the blonde._

"_Dobe, what's the matter?" Sasuke asked finally annoyed with being the one holding the conversation with his brother. Naruto looked over at Sasuke with clear worry in his eyes, a feature that Sasuke did not know Naruto had. He had never seen his friend worried. If someone were to ask him, he would tell them it is impossible for Uzumaki Naruto to be worried about anything, yet here is the Dobe being worried about something._

"_It's nothing." Naruto replied with no emotion. Did he not realize how bad of a liar he is? Sasuke mumbled something incoherent before asking his next question._

"_Is it about the Hokage thing? You know they will pick you to be Tsunade-sama's successor. Everyone knows it, so there is nothing to worry about." Sasuke encouragingly said. What he said was no lie, everyone knew he was going to be the next Hokage. Nara Shikaku predicted it, as well as Shikamaru, and everyone knows that the Nara family males always seem to be geniuses. Morino Ibiki called Naruto the most interesting ninja he had ever met and kept tabs on his progress ever since the Chuunin exams. Anybody with half a brain knew that Ibiki hardly ever found people interesting. It was no secret that Tsunade wanted Naruto to be her successor, and it was also no secret that Naruto was friends with not only the clan heirs of Konoha (Hyuga Hinata, Aburame Shino, Nara Shikamaru, Yamanaka Ino, Uchiha Sasuke, Akimichi Choji, and Inuzuka Kiba, though it was really Inuzuka Hana who is the heir, but it was basically like being friends with the heir) but with important people in other countries such as Kazekage Gaara. It also did not hurt that he is the son of the Yondaime Hokage, and the student of Hatake Kakashi the legendary Copy Ninja, and Jiraiya the legendary Toad Sage and one of the Sanin. Everything in that aspect was in his favor, so why would the most unpredictable ninja be worried about something that was going to be his in a matter of time?_

"_No." Naruto answered simply. Uzumaki looked like he was struggling between telling the Uchiha about what was gnawing at his heart or just let it go. He finally decided to go with the first choice. "It's about what Tsunade-baa-chan did…"_

"_What did she do? I haven't heard Sakura complain about anything…yet…"_

"_She gave out an extremely dangerous mission to her…" Naruto answered looking at his hands that lay folded on his lap._

"_Who? Sakura? Sakura is here in the village." Sasuke was utterly confused._

"_No, not her. Hinata-chan. She gave Hinata-chan an extremely dangerous S-rank mission about two weeks ago and Hinata hasn't come back yet." Naruto clenched his hands into fists as he bit his lower lip in frustration that he was not with Hinata on this mission. _

"_I am sure Hinata-san is fine." Sasuke assured his friend as he leaned back against the bench. Naruto did not look convinced. Sasuke sighed. He spent the next ten minutes trying to convince his friend that the Hyuga heiress is fine. It did not work until the two men saw said girl walk into the village gate with the rest of her team looking as they went through hell trying to get home, but they were alive. Naruto bounded up to the girl to pick her up bridal style to rush her to the hospital. The last thing the Uchiha heard before he left to go back home was Hinata letting out an "eep" from being so close to Naruto. Sasuke watched his friend leave with the girl, and finally everything Naruto did around Hinata made sense…__**He is in love with her.**__ Sasuke thought as he began his walk home with a smirk on his face._

***End Flash back***

Sakura looked over at the gorgeous Uchiha with a smile of her own. She noticed that her companion was smiling while looking at something intently. The bubblegum haired kunoichi followed the raven haired man's stare to see what his charcoal eyes could be concentrating on. Her emerald eyes landed on the couple talking with each other about…well she didn't know what they were talking about, but they looked so damn adorable together that she swore she would be a NaruHina fangirl if she was still in her fangirl stage. She looked up towards the sky when she began to remember the day she discovered that Naruto loves Hinata. She already knew of Hinata's feelings (having read her diary at Ino's sleep over), but it took her a while to discover Naruto's…

***Flash Back***

_Sakura straighten out her pink tube top and black skinny jeans as she put on her pink strappy heels. She looked over at Hinata who wore a spaghetti strapped lavender sundress with a black sash around it that matched her black heels. The two of them looked hot and Sakura knew it. She smiled at her shy friend who was busy putting on a light pink lip gloss. "Come on, Hinata-chan, we have to get going if we are going to get there while all the good drinks are still available!" Sakura playfully whined as Hinata quickly stuffed the lip gloss in her purse and followed Sakura out the door. The two of them are going to meet up with the rest of the group for a well deserved night out. Tsunade had been working them all like crazy, so Tsunade gave them all the next day off, so they all decided to go to a club tonight. It took half the night for Sakura to convince Hinata to go to the club with them, but in the end the pale eyed beauty gave in. _

"_Ah, gomen." Hinata answered as she finally caught up with Sakura. The two walked to the new club just as "Lollipop" by Big Bang and 2NE1 came on. Sakura giggled as she pulled Hinata to the dance floor. They hadn't seen any of their friends yet, but they figured they were early. Two minutes into the song, Sasuke and Naruto came up to the two girls and the four began talking to each other. _

"_I'm thirsty! What about you guys?" Sakura yelled so she could be heard over the music. Everyone nodded their heads not bothering to raise their voices. The group went up to the bar where the guys went to get the drinks for Sakura and Hinata. The two girls sat sort of near the area where the boys were getting the drinks, and began talking. Unbeknownst to the two girls, two pretty decent looking Chuunin came up to them with an I'm-the-shit swagger. Sakura rolled her eyes when she sensed the two cocky ninjas approaching them. Hinata looked at her friend with a confused look on her face. "Two idiots 12 o'clock" Sakura whispered. Hinata nodded and activated her Byakugan to see without turning around, since they were directly behind her. When the men were close she deactivated her Byakugan with a slightly annoyed expression on her face. _

"_Hello there, Hott-stuff. How would you like to see why I am called the Hurricane?" Idiot Number 1 greeted Sakura suggestively. An angry throbbing temporal vein appeared on Sakura's forehead, but she kept her cool._

"_Oh I get it. It's exciting at first, but ends in disaster." Sakura countered with a smug look on her face._

_Meanwhile Sasuke heard what the man said to Sakura, and was on his way to show him why his new name would be Dead! However, Naruto grabbed Sasuke's shoulder to stop the Uchiha from carrying out his violent act._

"_Don't bother with it. They can handle themselves; after all, they are both Jonin and highly skilled too. Those guys wouldn't stand a chance." Naruto said to calm the overprotective Uchiha. _

"_Hn." Was the man's only reply. Naruto is right; Sakura could kill someone with one inhuman strength punch, and Hinata could just Jyuuken anyone in the face. They would be fine. Sasuke noticed that Naruto all of a sudden became tense and angry. Sasuke was slightly confused, but when he saw Naruto's eyes flicker red for an instant, he figured out what is wrong. __**Hinata.**__ Sasuke thought as he turns to see Idiot Number 2 flirting with Hinata._

"_So, Sweetie, do you have a mirror in your pockets?" Idiot 2 asked. Hinata cocked her head to the side in confusion before answering._

"_No…why?"_

"_Cause I see me in your pants." The man answered as he swung his arm around Hinata whose face had turned a bright red from the vulgarity of the man's pick up line. Unfortunately for the idiot, Naruto can give on hell of a left hook. Sakura was shocked. She was sure that if the guys could hear they would have come when she was being hit on. She turned to look at Sasuke who had a knowing look on his face. Sakura looked at the scene. Hinata was trying to calm down the very angry Naruto…wait…Sakura had never seen Naruto that possessively angry. Sakura is a very smart girl; it did not take long for the medical ninja to put two and two together. She let a smile escape her lips. Well at least Hinata's feelings are no longer one sided. Now all that was left was to get the baka to realize it._

***End Flash Back***

Little did Sakura know is that it would take about a year to get Naruto to realize his feelings. It was good that they are together now, but even better that they were finally at Konoha.

"YES FINALLY WE ARE BACK!" Kiba cried with excitement as he and Akamaru ran into the village with renewed vitality.

"We'll take the prisoners to Ibiki. He will have fun with them." Choji said to no one in particular as Shino, Sai, Shikamaru, and Neji escorted the prisoners to Ibiki. Sasuke and Sakura escorted Akito while Naruto and Hinata went to report to Tsunade.

Akito's eyes analyzed everything that surrounded him. He could tell he was not going to escape anytime during this journey. There were too many high level ninjas watching his every move. He knew that there would be a time to escape; there always is. He smiled haughtily; he knew just what to do…it was only a matter of executing the plan, and that would be the easy part…the timing would be difficult.

* * *

**_IMPORTANT!_**

_**Story Set-up:**_

**Trilogy:** There would be two more sequels under different names like Hyuga Challenge and Naruto: Uzumaki Chronicles. Hyuga Challenge about engagement and wedding while NUC would be about family and other stuff.

**Books:** There would be six books set up like this:  
Book 1: The current Story of I Need You (so basically Naruto and Hinata coming together and dealing with the arrange marriage  
Book 2: The engagement and wedding  
Book 3: Starting of a family (early days of parenting and pregnancy)  
Book 4: Kids go to the academy and become Genin (develops the kids and their relationship with parents and each other...obviously focuses on the Uzumaki family more)  
Book 5: Chuunin Exams and rise of old enemies (Naruto having to deal with a huge threat to Konoha)  
Book 6: Time skip of 3 yrs and more like Shippuden (haven't really figured out what I plan to do but it's basically something like this)  
This is just a basic summary (without giving too much away...)  
Each Book will have its own summary at the top of the books first chapter, but it will be all under I Need You. Of course the book setup is subject to change and all, but this is the general idea of it)

**Nothing:** I basically end it with I Need You soon and nothing else

**_Pairings:_**

Definite pairings: NaruHina, SasuSaku, ShikaTema, and NejiTen

**KakaKure:** They would already be married and Kurenai would actually be pregnant with their first child together. I actually really wanted this pairing to happen before I realized that AsuKure was the canon pairing. I want them to get together because Kakashi lost everyone he cares for and so did Kurenai (Asuma died) so I was thinking that they comfort each other and then they fall for each other, and then they get married and Kakashi adopts Kurenai's baby ( I am making it a boy) but the baby keeps Asuma's last name.

**KakaAnko:** I have seen a lot of fanfictions with this couple. I think they are a cute couple, and I think it would be fun to write about them, so I was thinking that they go on a mission together and they have this bonding moment over the lost of their sensei's even though Anko no longer cares for Orochimaru like she did when she was younger.

**SaiIno:** I actually like this couple. Personally if Ino ends up with Shikamaru, Sai, or Choji I will be fine with that, but for this fanfic I need ShikaTema, so I need to find a match for Ino

**Ino:** she is with some guy I never mention at all, but she is with someone

**_New Kekkei Genkai for Naruto x Hinata kids:_**

**Iyasugan:** (iyasu means heal or healing, so healing eye) it looks like a normal Byakugan except there is a bluish tint in the lavender eyes of the Byakugan and it works much like the Kyuubi's healing abilities, except it only works on life or death wounds. If the user is advance in using their Iyasugan, they can actually heal their comrades, but it expends more chakra. The user still maintains the Byakugan abilities.

**Heishigan:** (heishi means soldier so soldier eye) it is a sinister red colored Byakugan eyes. It gives the user immense strength and durability. The user is virtually undefeatable for a certain amount of time, but it eats up a lot of chakra. It is normally used as a last resort because after its use the user needs to recover.

**Surugan**: (suru is the short version of saying absorb so absorb eye) it is a blue Byakugan, and it allows the user to absorb chakra from their surroundings, though the body needs to purify the chakra before it can be usable It also still allows the user to have all the power of the normal Byakugan.

**Kokorogan:** (kokoro means heart so heart eye) it is a silver colored Byakugan, and it allows the user to not only see the tenketsus of their opponents, but the "true heart" of the opponent. In other words, it can see the Achilles' heel to every living thing. It is very useful for defeating enemies, but it puts a lot of strain on the user's eyes. If used too often, the user can go blind.

**No Kekkei Genkai at all:** They just have the Byakugan and that's it

Okay that's basically all I needed help with deciding, so I hope you will tell me what you want cause I need some major suggestions cause I can't decide which ones I want more. I would have done a poll, but there is too much to vote on so a poll would have been too much, so if you could just give me your opinion by reviewing this chapter or even just pm me. Thanks, and I hope you enjoy this chapter of I Need You!


	12. Ch 12: Interrogation

**_Ch. 12: Interrogation_**

_Mission Report #1254907  
Submitted By: Uzumaki Naruto  
Members of Team: Haruno Sakura, Hyuga Neji, Inuzuka Kiba, Akamaru, Uchiha Sasuke, and leader, Uzumaki Naruto  
Mission Objective: Locate Hyuga Hinata and bring her back if possible  
Mission Summary: Trail led to The Land of Waves. Stayed at a good friend's lodgings for 5 days. Encountered Iwa team lead by Narumi Akito. Answered his questions, and his team attacked, unprovoked. Kinmotsu Kokoa interfered and was revealed to be Hyuga Hinata. She engaged in battle with said opponent and was injured. Uzumaki Naruto finished the battle with Narumi Akito and came out victorious. A second platoon led by Nara Shikamaru that had Akimichi Choji, Aburame Shino, and Sai aided in the capture of the Iwa team. Hyuga Hinata was brought back to Konoha.  
Mission Status: Accomplished  
_------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Robin egg blue eyes scan the mission report that Tsunade gave her. She let out a sigh of frustration as she puts the mission report back in the file. _**There is nothing that could have provoked Akito to attack Naruto and the others…so why did he? It doesn't make sense. It doesn't help either that Akito won't reveal anything during the interrogations. This is getting troublesome…great I'm sounding like Shikamaru!**_ The platinum blonde thinks as she approaches Morino Ibiki's office.

"Ino-san, come in." a deep male voice says from the other side of the door. Ino opens and briskly walks in. "Report!"

"Narumi Akito's team seems to only be obeying orders of their platoon leader, so they do not know why Akito attacked Uzumaki Naruto." Ino replies in a professional manner.

"Hmm…so they know nothing?"

"Hai."

"What about Narumi's interrogations? Have they revealed anything?" Ibiki asks as he gets up from his desk to walk towards the window that is to his right. His office appears to be very much like the Hokage's office, however, it is not as big, and the desk is not a semi circle, but a rectangle.

"Akito seems to be immune to the typical methods of interrogation. My team has not been able to gather any information as to what could have provoked him to attack the future Hokage." Ino seems a little disturbed by the fact that her team and herself have not been able to crack Akito. He has been under their care for two days and still nothing.

"Ino-san."

"Hai?"

"I asked you to join the KCIU for a reason. Out of all the ninjas your generation has, you are the one with a certain gift, the gift of interrogation. Not only is your family jutsu made for interrogation, but you yourself are made for it. You have a hunger for knowledge about anything that has to deal with people. At first it started off as gossip, but then you grew an interest for the inner workings of the human mind. I kept an eye on you since your second Chuunin exam when you displayed this talent when you defeated that Sound ninja. Now show me that I made the right choice of making you my successor when I retire."

"Hai, Ibiki-shisho, I will not let you down." Ino states as she elegantly departs the room with a look of determination on her face.

* * *

"Hey, Beautiful, you called?" Sai asks as he enters Narumi's holding cell where Ino is staring at Akito intently. She hears his voice and turns to face the newcomer.

"Oh, Sai-kun, you're here. Perfect timing! Just give me a sec." She answers then turns to face Akito. "I'll be right back, Hun." She says in a sickly innocent tone. Akito cringes at her sweetness and tries to activate his kekkei genkai, but is unable to, due to the Konoha's Central Intelligence Unit (KCIU) agents putting chakra inhibiter shackles on him the second his team entered the facility. Ino stands up and guides Sai outside the cell holding area.

"So, Ino-chan, what do you need me to do?" Sai asks with his typical smile on his face. Ino turns to face him then blows her long side bang out of her face in a cute manner, causing Sai to slightly blush, but he quickly regains himself before Ino even looks at him.

"Well, I plan to use a new family jutsu I developed, and I need you to watch my body when I do it." Ino explains. She smiles her confident smile before saying. "Ready to get this show on the road?"

"Excuse me?" Sai's face shows his confusion with the saying.

"It's a saying that means 'Are you ready to do this?'" Ino chuckles lightly.

"Oh…seems that I need to check out a book on popular sayings as my next book to read." Sai nods as he mentally notes what he said.

"Oh? What book do you have now?" Ino asks with curiosity.

"Oh nothing…" Sai answers while averting his eyes. Ino smirks. She has found a new prey.

"Really? It doesn't seem like nothing….Come on, Sai-kun, you can tell little ole me." Ino coaxes in while cutely folding her hands in the middle of her bosom in order to give her puppy dog face optimal effect. Sai , though it is not showing on his face, inwardly struggling to ignore Ino's cuteness.

"Itsaboutrelationships." Sai quickly mumbles incoherently. Ino smiles as she looks into his charcoal eyes.

"What did you say?" She says sweetly.

"It's about relationships. I have to go do something for Ibiki, so why don't you get ready to do your jutsu while I do Ibiki's errand." Sai says as he smoothly walks away leaving Ino hungry for more information, like why does he need a book on relationships? Is it about romantic relationships or friend ones? If it's the romantic one, then who is he interested in? Ino's brain is working into overtime trying to figure out this new bit of information about Sai, but she pushes it to the side. Right now there is work that needs to be done to interrogate Akito.

* * *

If someone were to go back in time and tell the sixteen-year-old Ino that she would be Second-in-Command at the Konoha Central Intelligence Unit, and would be Ibiki's successor, she would have laughed at the bull shit that was being said. Back then, her passion was Medicine. She loved being a medical ninja with all her heart. She felt more useful doing that. Best part of it was that she was no longer behind Sakura anymore. Then the whole ordeal with Akatsuki happened. There was so much blood and need for medical ninjas, and although Ino was thrilled about being needed, she did not feel the same joy about medicine anymore.

Also, she saw how amazing Sakura was, and still is, at it. There was no way that she would ever match up to Billboard Brow. Even though it went against every fiber of her being, Ino admitted that Sakura is better at being a med-nin then her. So she hung up her medical supplies and said good-bye to the hospital. Now what was she supposed to do?

She actually discovered her love of interrogation completely by accident on a mission with her team. She was about eighteen-years old when Tsunade assigned her team the mission of capturing Takashi Hito, a bandit from the Land of Snow that had become an assassin. He had killed many important political officials, and was beginning to send the ninja world into turmoil if it persisted.

Surprisingly enough, her team captured the assassin fairly easily. Shikamaru was a little wary of the man's easy capture, so he made everyone take shifts guarding their prisoner. On Ino shift is when she discovered her gift and heart for manipulating people's minds in order to get the info she desired.

* * *

_The platinum blonde was fixing her ponytail for the thrity-ninth time during her shift. She felt so bored. Staring at a barely decent looking guy was driving her insane. His clothes are mossy greens and browns that made him look like the earth itself. Not to mention his mud colored hair and eyes. Ugh! He was just so…so…so…unappealing! __**Damn Shikamaru…being so paranoid. We caught him easily because obviously he is horrible at being a ninja!**__ Ino thought as she began to file her nails to a more desirable length._

"_Are you just going to pamper yourself there?" the unappealing man asked. Ino looked up from her nails to glare at the man._

"_Yes, I am. Got a problem with that?"_

"_No…just wondering…" he replied as a barely noticeable tone of eagerness in his voice. __**Hmmm…that's strange. He seems like he is anxious about something. I wonder what it could be…well, only one way to find out. **__Ino thought as she stretched out to fake yawn. She learned this trick from her father. People who have a secret are more likely to share it if they think that your attention is split or you are not really paying any attention to them. She faked looking tired, so Hito would think that she would be more focus on sleeping and counting down the minutes to her shift is over than whatever he had to say. _

"_I can't wait to get home and see my friends." She stated as she looked up at the beautiful stars up ahead. Hito did not say anything, but Ino expected that. "Ugh! Before I get to even see them I have to do a mission report for Tsunade-sama!" Ino yelled in exasperation. Hito perked up ever so slightly at the mention of Tsunade's name, and that little movement did not slip past Ino. "Yeah Tsunade-sama, would have my head if I don't do that…it's so troublesome…" She mentally noted that Shikamaru was rubbing off on her, and she needed to undo that before she became lazy like him. Hito seemed to now be very interested on the topic of Tsunade, though, he did his best not to show it. "Well, here comes Choji for his shift. Thanks for listening to me Hito-kun!" Ino smiled sweetly as she walked towards Choji._

"_Hey, Ino." Choji said groggily as Ino approached him._

"_Hi, Choji. Where's Shikamaru?" Ino asked. Choji sleepily pointed towards the green lazily built tent. Ino briskly made her way over to said tent and walked in. She could hear Shikamaru's snoring, and wondered if Temari knew that her boyfriend snored like this. "Shika, wake up I need to tell you something important!" Ino yelled it loud enough to wake Shikamaru, but quiet enough to not alert anyone else._

"_Troublesome woman…What do you want, Ino?" Shikamaru sleepily asked. Ino smiled confidently like a girl with a secret that she probably shouldn't be telling, but will anyway._

"_I figured out why Hito was captured so easily." Ino replied. Shikamaru's eyes widened in surprise as he now gave Ino his undivided attention. _

"_Why?"_

"_His next target is Tsunade-sama, so why fight the people that will be taking him straight to her?"_

_

* * *

_

After Ino told Shikamaru that, he requested for an interrogation team to be called to investigate Ino's statement. After an hour they discovered that Ino was completely correct, and that Hito was hired by some remaining Orochimaru henchman trying to regain their master's honor by defeating the last Sanin. After that whole ordeal, Ibiki offered to train Ino as his apprentice and she accepted.

Ino smiles as she finished putting the last touches to her preparations just as Sai enters in full ANBU uniform, minus the mask. Seeing as he is second in command of the ANBU, after Sasuke, he very rarely is seen out of his ANBU uniform. Though Ino will admit, that he does look pretty hott in the uniform.

"So you ready?" Sai asks as he stands next to Ino who is facing a knocked out Akito.

"Hai!"

"Well let's get this party started." Sai mechanically says.

"You took out the book on sayings didn't you?"

"Yes, and I don't understand a lot of them."

"Yeah well you're not the only one. Okay well here I go." Ino meticulously goes through the hand signs as quickly as she can. The last sign is a rectangle formed by her pointer and thumb on both her right and left hand. "**Omoi Miru Koto no Jutsu!**" Akito's body jerks a little as a signal that Ino entered successfully. Ino's body instantly goes limp, so Sai quickly caught her body before it hit the hard cold floor. He holds her body close as he looks at her waiting for her conscious to return to her body.

* * *

"So…did it work?" Ino hears her voice echo in a long gloomy feeling corridor with doors on either side. "Well, by the looks of this place…I say it did. ALRIGHT JUTSU IS A SUCCESS!" Ino yells as she pumps her fist in the air in sheer pride in her accomplishment. "Now to look for his memories…they should tell me his reason for attacking Naruto…"

Ino walks down the corridor looking at each sign on the door. She had already passed all the different emotions doors such as Happiness, Fear, Anger, and etc. The blonde could not seem to find the memory door. "Ugh! I'm beginning to think that this guy has no memories!" Ino cries in exasperation, but stops dead in her tracks. She looks to her right to see a brown door with a green handle and lettering that says 'Memories.' "Well, it's about time!" Ino exclaims as she opens the door to enter. The room is similar to a storage closet of filing cabinets…messy filing cabinets. "Great…how am I supposed to find anything in this mess?"

Ino searches for about an hour (or what felt like an hour) when she came across a file that calls her attention. "'First Love?' Hmm that could be interesting. I know I'm supposed to be looking for a reason but…I JUST CAN'T RESIST LOVE STORIES!" Ino cries as she opens the file to see a DVD. She looks at the disk with a look of confusion on her face, but sees a door with the label 'Memory Viewer' on it. She slowly makes her way to the door and turns the knob. Her blue eyes scan the room quickly. The room is set up just like a movie theater, and Ino loves movies. She places the DVD into the player and walks to the front row to sit and enjoy the 'First Love' memory of Akito.

* * *

"_Akito-kun, could you be a little more careful? I know you want to get home as quickly as possible, but we are on a mission, so just be careful will ya?" a short haired blonde girl with green eyes says. She could not have been older than sixteen. She looked like a cross between Ino and Sakura. The boy next to her was none other than Narumi Akito, but he seemed different. He seemed loving and tender instead of lustful and cold. _

"_Oh fine, Megumi-chan. I just thought that if we got home earlier…you might want to…" Akito trailed off with a blush on his face. Megumi began to blush as well but giggled sweetly at her comrade's antics. _

"_Akito-kun, you don't have to get so shy about asking me out on a date. We are dating now, and sure I would love to go on a date when we get back. Though we should not rush home because we have to do this mission properly okay?"_

"_Hai…Hai!" Akito replied with a smile on his face. Another male shinobi came up next Akito with a knowing grin on his face. _

"_Aww the couple is blushing!" a boy Ino identified as Chuugo teased the two shinobi. Akito was about to retort when Chuugo and him notice Megumi tense up. "Something wrong?"_

"_I sense the presence of an enemy shinobi." Megumi answered as she pulled out a kunai. Akito activated his kekkei genkai so the second the intruder made eye contact with him…it would all be over. Chuugo got his chakra ready to cast a genjutsu when the moment is right. _

"_Ku ku ku…it's good to see three shinobi prepared to fight." A sinister voice said. It sounded like a snake. All of a sudden a snake jumped out of the bushes and tackled Chuugo to the ground and bit him in the neck injecting its venom. The venom however was not poisonous, but it did paralyze Chuugo, so he was out of the fight. _Akito, at this time in his life, only used his kekkei genkai as his weapon. Call it cockiness or stupidity, but he never saw the need to learn more advance ninjutsus then what was taught at the academy, and some very basic water jutsus. Megumi however was more of taijutsu fighter, so she would be relying on her strength. At least that is what Ino gathered from watching them. _The fight was very brief seeing as Akito and Megumi were easily overwhelmed by their opponent. _

"_WHO ARE YOU?" Akito yelled as he was wrapped up by a large constrictor python. The man who was their opponent turned to face him with his snake like golden eyes. _

"_Why I am Orochimaru…and you have something I want." Orochimaru said as he slowly approached Akito with a look of wanting in his eyes._

"_LEAVE AKITO-KUN ALONE!" Megumi cried from her position. She had to kunai through her shoulders that pinned her to the trunk of the tree rendering her unable to move. Orochimaru simply laughed at her command. _

"_Little girl do you not know the powers of the Gyugan? It would be most beneficial to me to have this boy be my next body…after Sasuke-kun of course." Orochimaru hissed. Akito tried to wiggle his way out of the pythons grasp, but the python just squeezed tighter nullifying Akito's attempts of escape. A rustling could be heard from behind Orochimaru. Both Megumi and Akito prayed that it was Chuugo who finally was able to move, but their hopes were dashed when a man with silver hair in a ponytail and glasses came from the direction of the rustling._

"_Ah, Kabuto-kun, what do you have for me?"_

"_I have a suggestion, Orochimaru-sama."_

"_What would that be?"_

"_Well…imagine being able to control other ninjas' chakra with your eyes." Kabuto said a glint came off his glasses. Orochimaru allowed a sickening smirk to spread on his face that made Akito and Megumi shudder. _

"_I'm listening…"_

"_Well, according to my research, and my theories…I believe that if a Hyuga and a Narumi were to mate they would produce the ultimate kekkei genkai. A kekkei genkai that controls chakra…If you want more information on it I can show you my research." Kabuto says in a suck up manner. He walks over to Orochimaru who seems to be delighted at the idea._

"_Very well…I won't make Akito my new body yet, but I will make him mate with a Hyuga."_

"_I WON'T DO IT!" Akito yelled in anger. Orochimaru and Kabuto look at him with amused looks on their faces. _

"_Oh? Why's that?" Kabuto asked knowing full well that this boy would not be able to disobey Orochimaru no matter how hard he tries. _

"_Because I won't be with anyone else, but Megumi-chan! I love her!" Akito yells causing Megumi to blush profusely. Orochimaru then looks between the two, and an idea hatches in his mind. He leans over and whispers something in Kabuto's ears. Orochimaru's right-hand man nodded his agreement and walked over to the blonde girl. Then both she and him disappeared in a cloud of smoke. "WHAT DID YOU DO WITH MEGUMI-CHAN?" Akito yells in anger. _

"_Listen boy and listen well." Orochimaru says with all playfulness out of his tone. "If you want to see your love alive you will do as I say…understood?"_

"_H-hai."_

"_You will find and marry a Hyuga when you are of marrying age. Then you will get her pregnant and bring your first child to me in exchange for Megumi. Are we clear?" Orochimaru says._

"_Crystal." Akito says with his new cold eyes. Orochimaru smirks and he himself disappears in a cloud of smoke along with his snakes._

"_Don't worry, Megumi-chan…I will save you." Akito said as he stood up with his kekkei genkai blazing that seemed to challenge anyone to mess with him._

_

* * *

_

Ino's eyes widens in shock. "OH MY GOD!" she yells as she bolts out of the room and down the corridor to make her way back to her body.

* * *

"Welcome back, Beautiful." Sai says with a rare genuine smile. Had Ino not been so frantic she might have noticed the relieved look on Sai's face when she stirred.

"No time, Sai-kun, I need you to take me directly to Tsunade-sama! Tell her to call in Sasuke, Hinata, and Naruto. I think I know why now!" Ino yells as she bolts out of Sai's arms and down the hallway towards the Ibiki's office to report her findings, and then head to the Hokage tower to finally put the pieces together of the mystery that is Narumi Akito.

* * *

**Me:** Oh my gosh!  
**Sakura:** What?  
**Me:** I can't believe it!  
**Ino:** That you did a whole chapter with me as the main character?  
**Me:** Well there's that, but that wasn't what I was referring to…  
**Hinata:** Then what is it?  
**Me: **THERE ARE OVER 100 REVIEWS FOR THIS STORY!  
**Hinata, Ino, Sakura: **Wow…  
**Me: **I would like to thank all the reviewers who reviewed! Your feedback is always much appreciated, and I hope you will still continue to review so I can know how I am doing!  
**Naruto:** Now that the thanks are out of the way, let's talk about this chapter!  
**Me: **Oh right! Okay well I decided to do something a little different with this chapter. Originally this was supposed to be two chapters, but I really did not want a full chapter devoted to Akito's past (though it would have been more descriptive than this).  
**Sasuke:** I don't think anyone would…  
**Akito:** Hey! At least you people can understand me better now, and I am not just some ass who felt like attacking!  
**Me:** True…and I do sympathize with you especially about what Sasuke is going to tell us about Megumi…  
**Everyone (except Sasuke):** NANI?!?!?!  
**Me:** You will all just have to wait and see! I would like some feedback on Akito's past (and if people want me to expand on it next chapter).  
**Ino:** Since I know Lexar here will forget to do this: **Omoi Miru Koto no Jutsu!** Omoi (mind, heart, thought, feelings) Miru Koto (view) so it means mind view jutsu.  
**Sai:** Wait what about what **chaosglory626** said?  
**Me: **Oh right! Last chapter when Sakura was countering that random drunk guys pick lines about being called a hurricane comes from Jeff Dunham…I was going to put a disclaimer on it last chapter but I forgot to…gomen… Oh and while I am talking about corrections…You might have noticed a little change in my style. You see I normally write in past(idk why) but **JLBShecky** pointed it out to me and said my stories would be better if they were in present tense, so I am trying to make the switch from past to present so bear with me and tell me if my stories are better now. The only part that should be in past is flashbacks and when the characters are thinking or talking about something that happened in the past  
**Shikamaru:** Troublesome…what about what **Hatake Tsughi** requested?  
**Me: **Thanks for the reminder! Okay well remember last chapter when I did a story about how Sasuke and Sakura realized that Naruto loved Hinata? Well **Hatake Tsughi** requested that I do that for everyone. Personally I would love to do that, but I am not sure how to incorporate it into the story…so I was wondering that for the next however many chapters it takes instead of me conversing with the characters at the end I would do the story about how whatever character realizes that Naruto is in love with Hinata, if everyone would like that. So here is what I need you all to do! First I need people to continue voting on the poll I had last chapter (I will post it for this chapter too) and for what character should I do for the how they knew Naruto is in love with Hinata and if I should even do that. So here is the poll! (for the explanations go to the last chapter at the bottom)

_**Kekkei Genkai:  
**_**Iyasugan: **3  
**Kokorogan: **0  
**Surugan: **3  
**Heishigan: **3  
**Just Byakugan: **0

_**Couples:**_  
**KakaKure: **2  
**KakaAnko: **3  
**InoSai: **3  
**Ino: **0  
**IrukaAnko: **2

_**Short Story at End of Chapter:  
**_**Yes:  
No:**

_**If Yes What Character (the ones I have Ideas for so Far):  
**_**Ino:  
Shikamaru:  
Choji:  
Kiba/Shino:  
Tsunade:  
Kakashi:  
Sai:**


	13. Ch 13: The Escape

**_Ch. 13: The Escape_**

Naruto ran through the streets towards the Hokage office. He had been resting just a few minutes before in his apartment when Sai told him that he was needed immediately at Tsunade's office. He did not even bother questioning Sai as to why he was needed; the urgency in Sai's tone was enough for Naruto to book it to the office. He hoped it was some sort of news about Akito. Maybe they had decided to execute him. Naruto shook that thought out of his mind. It was not nice to pray for the demise of someone else…even if they fully deserved it for trying to take HIS Hinata away.

**I find it amusing that you go from not admitting your feelings, to already labeling the girl as yours when you just realized your feelings. You humans are very strange indeed.** Kyuubi teased Naruto. Naruto snorted at the demon, but made no break in his stride. He would deal with the furball later. The important thing right now was to get to Tsunade and see what she needed of him.

"Naruto-kun!" a melodious voice cried out to get the blonde's attention. Naruto smiled warmly, he didn't even need to turn around to know who was calling him. He stopped and waited for her to catch up to him. "Naruto-kun, are you on your way to see Tsunade-sama?" The Hyuga girl asked when she came up next to Naruto. Uzumaki allowed a large grin to come across his face as he answered.

"Yup! Are you Hinata-hime?" Naruto asked certain that his new nickname for the girl would make her blush, and he was right. Hinata let out a small, barely audible, 'Eep' and the blush spread all over her face in a faint pink that slowly gained intensity until it was an un-nameable hue of red. Naruto chuckled as he wrapped his arm around Hinata's waist. To say that Hinata was not in a daze…was a complete lie. If she could find enough power to move her arms, she would have commanded them to pinch her. She felt like fainting (a feeling she had not had in years). Naruto brought his face close to hers until his lips were centimeters away from her ear. "Let's get to Baa-chan's. Okay?"

"H-hai." Hinata cursed herself for her stutter and the fact that Naruto was purposefully doing all this to make her blush and stutter. Naruto moved his face so that Hinata could see the foxy grin on his face. Hinata rolled her eyes, but secretly thought he looked absolutely adorable with that grin on his face. Naruto started running again and left Hinata in the dust, since she did not realize they were going to be running.

"Gosh, Hinata-hime, you can be so slow." Naruto said as he appeared behind Hinata. Before Hinata even got a chance to turn around, Naruto picked her up bridal style and began running towards the Hokage building. In all honesty, he did not need to carry Hinata, in fact he knew that she was pretty fast, and could keep up with him, but if he allowed her to run beside him, he wouldn't get the chance to hold her like he is now. Three years with the pervy sage gets any man to think of ways to hold the girl…no?  
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Naruto and Hinata walked into Tsunade's office to see Tsunade at her desk with Sasuke standing opposite of her and Ino standing beside Tsunade on her left. Hinata greeted the people in the group politely while Naruto mock punched Sasuke and brazenly greeted Tsunade and Ino. Ino's temporal vein began to pulsate in annoyance of the other blonde's antics; Tsunade just chuckled, but pretended to be annoyed with the "Baa-chan" part…as usual.

"I called you all here because Ino has something to tell you all, and to ask you." Tsunade began with all kidding aside. Naruto, Sasuke, and Hinata straightened up and put on their professional attitudes. Ino bowed in respect to Tsunade.

"Thank-you, Tsunade-sama. Today during the interrogation of Narumi Akito, I discovered some interesting facts that I would like to share with you." Ino began as she pulled out the detailed report about what she discovered about Akito, and his desire to marry Hinata. She waited for her three friends to finish reading the report, and took notice of their reactions to the report. Hinata read the report with an emotionless mask, but Ino noticed how her complexion became sickly. She was probably mortified by the fact that Akito's love was taken, and that she herself was the price that needed to be paid to get the girl back. Naruto just got angrier and angrier; probably due to the same thing that was making Hinata sick. Sasuke, however, maintained the emotionless mask the entire time, though Ino could sense that he was disturbed. " As you can see, Akito only did what he did because of Orochimaru."

"THAT'S NO EXCUSE!" Naruto bellowed. Nobody in the room could really blame Naruto for yelling in anger, because it really was not a good excuse. "Right, Hinata-chan?" Naruto asked dropping the "hime" suffix due to professionalism. Hinata looked up at Naruto, but did not respond right away.

"I honestly cannot get mad at Akito-san. I honestly think I would probably have done the same thing if I was in his shoes. Love makes us do crazy things…no?" Hinata said. Everyone was silent pondering on what she said. Naruto was about to protest, but did not. He could see what Hinata was saying, and now that he thought about it…he honestly did not think he would have done anything differently either.

"If I may ask…I understand why Naruto is here, seeing as he is the next Hokage and he should know of the village affairs, and I understand why Hinata is here, since this issue has to do with her, but why am I here?" Sasuke asked thought he was pretty sure he knew why.

"Well, this whole thing took place while you were still with Orochimaru, so I was wondering if you might know what Orochimaru was thinking." Ino answered.

"Well, I do, actually."  


* * *

"_Why did you bring this girl here?" Sasuke asked with no emotion whatsoever in his voice. Orochimaru came into the hideout with Kabuto and Megumi. It seemed like the girl had been crying up until recently. _

"_Oh, Sasuke-kun, I was just getting ready to reap another new kekkei genkai." Orochimaru hissed out. Sasuke rolled his eyes in disgust and with slight curiosity. "You see this girl means a lot to a certain Gyugan user…"_

"_LEAVE AKITO-KUN OUT OF THIS!" the blonde yelled. Kabuto slapped her across the face causing the girl to spin and lad on the floor clutching her stinging cheek. _

"_Narumi Akito?" Sasuke asked, his interest having been peaked. _

"_Yesss. You see, Kabuto-kun has discovered that if the Narumi mates with a Hyuga…the ultimate kekkei genkai could be developed. With the new kekkei genkai I would be able not only to get revenge on the village that forsake me, but against the whole ninja world. With you and my future pawn at my side…I will be unstoppable, and it might even be possible to completely take over the whole ninja world! You and I will be the most powerful ninjas in the world, and you would have more than enough power to defeat Itachi without even breaking a sweat." The part about defeating Itachi wet Sasuke's appetite enough to like this new idea of Orochimaru'_

* * *

"Well, that certainly sounds like something Orochimaru would do. So he planned to take over the whole ninja world based on some research? That was quite a gamble…not even a sucker like me would take that bet." Tsunade said after Sasuke was finished. Hinata felt sick; Orochimaru had all this evil planned for her future child if she married Akito? Hinata sat down in order to regain herself. She was sick to her stomach.

"Do you know what happened to Megumi after that?" Ino asked.

"No…that was the first and last time I saw her." Sasuke answered.

"So, since Orochimaru is dead… why would Akito still hold up his end of the deal?" Naruto asked.

"Well, Kabuto is alive, so maybe Kabuto has kept in touch with Akito." Hinata offered.

"If that is true, then we need to interrogate him more to get any information about Kabuto. Kabuto must be killed…he is too much like Orochimaru to be left alive." Tsunade said as she stood up from her chair.

"Hai!" Ino responded as she bowed before leaving the office to continue interrogating Akito. Before she could open the door to leave, Sai appeared before her.

"I have news, Tsunade-sama. Narumi Akito has escaped from the interrogation sector." Sai said.

"NANI?" Tsunade bellowed in anger as she slammed her palms on her desk.

"How did that happened?" Ino asked.

"It seems that Akito was getting fresh with one of the guards, so the guard decided to teach Akito a lesson, and went to fight him. Akito somehow used the fight to break his chakra chains, and escaped with the help of his kekkei genkai." Sai answered matter-of-factly. Tsunade rubbed her temples in aggravation.

"Should I send a squad of ANBU to search for him?" Sasuke offered.

"Hai…and Hinata find Kiba and tell him to get his Konoha Trackers together to aid the ANBU." Tsunade commanded.

"Hai." Sasuke and Hinata said as they left to do their duties with Sai following Sasuke. Naruto sighed…so much for asking Hinata on a date. _**Well, guess this gives me sometime to make it more romantic when we go on a date.**_ Naruto thought.

"Ino…Naruto."

"Hai?" The two blondes chorused.

"You two are dismissed." Tsunade said with a flick of her wrist. Ino and Naruto bowed and left.

* * *

"I can't get his scent! How about you, Akamaru?" Kiba asked as he turned to his faithful companion. Akamaru looked up at his owner and whined pitifully as he shook his dog head. Kiba growled in annoyance just as Shino came up next to him.

"Found nothing, I gather." Shino asked but it was more of a statement. Kiba quickly turned to face his best (human male) friend.

"This Akito-teme, is pretty evasive. I guess your bugs haven't found anything either, huh?"

"Nothing, but we can only hope that Hinata and the ANBU Squad have found something, but until they give us word, we will keep searching." Shino said as he turned his attention to the bugs he sent to continue looking. Kiba shook his head in amusement and jumped on Akamaru heading in the opposite way of Shino's bugs.  


* * *

"Hawk-kun do you see anything?" Hinata asked the ANBU masked Sasuke. Sasuke shook his head in the negative fashion. Hinata sighed but continued to look around with her Byakugan. The other two ANBU that were with Sasuke and Hinata continued forward while Sasuke and Hinata swept the south end of the trail.

"There is nothing in this area that could lead us to Akito, so I say we catch up to Monkey and Cat." He said pointing up ahead to Sai and Cat ANBU. Hinata nodded in agreement as she picked up the speed to catch up with the others with Sasuke beside her. Sai slowed down his pace until the two caught up with him and his partner.

"Hawk-san, we have not been able to find anything." Sai reported to Sasuke. Sasuke looked thoughtful for a second before going into leader mode.

"Cat-san, go to Kiba and Shino and see if they have found anything. If they have not, go to Tsunade and report. Wait for her commands. Is that understood?"

"Hai, Hawk-sama!" Cat said as he ran to do as he was told.

"What do we do now?" Sai asked Hinata and Sasuke.

"I guess we just wait here…right?" Hinata offered.

"It's really our only option." Sai said.

"So then why did you ask?" Sasuke snapped back.

"Because, Emovenger, you are the captain." Sai retorted causing Sasuke to get mad and glare at Sai. Hinata sweat dropped and went between the two men with her hands in a calming fashion.

"Sai-kun, that was not a very good nickname for Sasuke-kun. Maybe you should try to pick a nicer name for a nickname." Hinata nervously said.

"I wasn't trying to give him a nice nickname at the moment, Heiress." Sai said using his new nickname for Hinata. Hinata smiled slightly until she saw that Sasuke was about to lose his cool.

"Sasuke-kun, just breathe. We need to focus on our mission, so let's just leave Sai-kun alone, okay?" Hinata suggested in a soothing tone. Sasuke visibly calmed down, and looked on Hinata with a slight smirk.

"You know, you have this power to calm just about anyone down…no wonder you and Naruto are good for each other." Sasuke said teasingly though he knew what he said was true. Hinata blushed and looked at the ground in embarrassment. Sai smiled in amusement and nodded in agreement with Sasuke.  


* * *

Tsunade sat in her office rereading Ino's report on her findings. She was not surprised that Orochimaru was somehow behind this, but what she could not understand was why did Akito keep his end of the bargain? Yes, it is possible that Kabuto could still be in contact with Akito, and therefore the deal could still be possible. However, Akito was no fool, and he must know that Kabuto would never be anything more than a follower, so there are only three possibilities… One, Kabuto had a complete change and was now running his own operation. Two, Kabuto was now working for someone who wanted to follow in Orochimaru's footsteps. Three (and probably the worst one) is that the part of Orochimaru and Kabuto absorbed has taken over, and Orochimaru has returned in Kabuto's body…or something like that. Either way, it was bad because it all led to Orochimaru, and nothing good comes out of Orochimaru.

"Tsunade-sama!" cried and a cat masked ANBU as he came through the window to her office.

"Did you find Narumi Akito?" Tsunade asked hopeful of a good report.

"No, My Lady, we have not found anything . What do you think we should do?"

"Call back everyone…apparently the trail has gone cold, because we were not informed in time about his escape tro be able to catch him." Tsunade said in an annoyed tone. Cat nodded and disappeared in a swirl of leaves to inform the rest of his team about Tsunade's decision.**

* * *

Me: Hello! I have some great news! This is the second to last chapter…  
Tsunade: How is that good news?  
Me: You didn't let me finish. I meant to say that it is the second to last chapter of book one! Then Book Two will start!  
Tsunade: Oh…that is good news!  
Me: Ok so to the polls! I would just like to say that the couple voting poll will end after the first chapter of Book 2 (gotta put the couples together….no?) The others still have some time before I close them!  
Tsunade: Here are the polls!  
_Kekkei Genkai_(For those who haven't voted I decided to be kind and type up the description again on this chapter)  
Iyasugan_ (iyasu means heal or healing, so healing eye) it looks like a normal Byakugan except there is a bluish tint in the lavender eyes of the Byakugan and it works much like the Kyuubi's healing abilities, except it only works on life or death wounds. If the user is advance in using it, they can actually heal their comrades, but it expends more chakra. The user still maintains the Byakugan abilities_: 7**

**Kokorogan_(kokoro means heart so heart eye) it is a silver colored Byakugan, and it allows the user to not only see the tenketsus of their opponents, but the "true heart" of the opponent. In other words, it can see the Achilles' heel to every living thing. It is very useful for defeating enemies, but it puts a lot of strain on the user's eyes. If used too often, the user can go blind: _1 **

**Surugan (suru is the short version of saying absorb so absorb eye) it is a blue Byakugan, and it allows the user to absorb chakra from their surroundings, though the body needs to purify the chakra before it can be usable It also still allows the user to have all the power of the normal Byakugan: 6 **

**Heishigan _(heishi means soldier so soldier eye) it is a sinister red Byakugan. It gives the user immense strength and durability. The user is virtually undefeatable for a certain amount of time, but it eats up a lot of chakra. It is normally used as a last resort because after its use the user needs to recover: _9  
Just Byakugan They just have the Byakugan and that's it: 1 **

**_Couples:  
_KakaKure: 9  
KakaAnko: 7  
InoSai: 7  
Ino: 0  
IrukaAnko: 7  
ChoIno: 5 **

**Me: I had another poll to see if I should do short stories at the end of my chapters about how a Naruto Character discovered that Naruto loved Hinata….so the poll winner is…YES I will be doing short stories! Okay and the character that this chapter's story is going to have is HATAKE KAKASHI! So grab your popcorn and a tall soda (or water) and sit down and enjoy the show! **

**_Kakashi Omake_ **

The silver haired Jonin sat in a tree enjoying his favorite book written by the late Jiraiya. Kakashi had decided that he wanted to continue the Icha Icha series, in honor of Jiraiya, but his problem was that he lacked inspiration. In the last book Jiraiya had ended the story of the characters of Suzume and Ichigo, so there really wasn't much Kakashi could add on. He would have to make his own story under the Icha Icha title. However, he needed some character inspiration, but where would he find some? He did remember Jiraiya saying that the characters of Suzume and Ichigo were based on what he would have liked to happen between him and Tsunade, so maybe Kakashi could write a story based on what would have happened between Obito and Rin if Obito had survived that fateful day. No, that would be too sad for the hardened Jonin. That was a part of his life he wished he could change. To be able to redo that day so that Obito could have lived, but that was in the past. He had to move on, and right now he needed inspiration for his new book.

"HEY, HINATA-CHAN!" a very distinct voice that the Copy Ninja knew all too well cried out to the lavender eyed Hyuga heiress. Kakashi decided that he might as well watch the exchange between the two young adults…it just might give him some inspiration, though he highly doubted that.

"Oh, hello, Naruto-kun, what are you doing here?" Hinata asked turning around to face the blue eyed ninja who had a huge grin on his face.

"I was actually looking for Kakashi-sensei to do some training together, but I can't seem to find him." Naruto said as he looked around the area. "Have you seen him, Hinata-chan?"

"No sorry, Naruto-kun." Hinata sadly replied upset that she was of no help to Naruto.

"Eh, it's fine, Hinata-chan, no worries." Naruto said. He began to run with the goal of passing Hinata, but with his one track mind he failed to stop himself from tripping over one of the jutting out roots of the tree that Kakashi was sitting on the branch of. Naruto began falling towards Hinata who only was able to watch as Naruto came falling towards her. Naruto hit Hinata with such force that the two of them landed on the ground with Naruto on top of Hinata. The two ninjas' face glowed bright red from embarrassment, and Kakashi had to contain himself from laughing. Though what was weird for Kakashi was that Naruto had not gotten off Hinata yet. Naruto was usually the first person to try to get out of the position he was in now, yet he has not made a motion to move. Kakashi smirked,_ So, Naruto is attracted to Hinata…well this should be good._

"Eto…Naruto-kun, are you okay?" Hinata asked trying very hard not to stutter and was very proud of herself for succeeding though she knew she was as red as a tomato, but she could live with that. Naruto was brought back from whatever fantasy world he was in, and with the trickle of blood coming out of his nose, Kakashi could only assume that it was a world that involved Hinata and some Icha Icha goodness.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Hinata-chan, I didn't mean to….Are you okay?....ummm….please don't be mad….it really was an accident…oh, Hinata-chan…" Naruto said in a very flustered like manner. Kakashi watched with interest. _Naruto is rarely flustered these days…what's a matter with him? Wait…is he still blushing?_ Kakashi thought as he took a closer look at his former pupil. He was still blushing! Kakashi chuckled lightly. This was so amusing to him.

"i-it's okay, Naruto-kun. It was an accident anyway, so don't feel bad." Hinata replied in a soothing matter. Naruto rubbed the back of his head which was a nervous habit of his. Was he nervous around Hinata?

"You got to let me make it up to you….Hey, how 'bout I take you out for lunch to make up for this?" Naruto offered still rubbing the back of his head. Hinata's face produced a light blush due to Naruto's offer.

"Hai, that would be great, but you don't have to." Hinata replied. Naruto waved his hand in way that seemed to tell Hinata not to worry about it.

"It's fine, Hinata-chan, I want to do this, so where do you want to eat?" Naruto asked. Kakashi was stunned; Naruto didn't offer to go eat ramen. This is serious.

"We could go get ramen." Hinata offered knowing that Naruto would jump at the idea.

"No, how about we go to that café in the corner? They have really good cinnamon buns, and you like those." Naruto offered. Kakashi could swear hell must have frozen over…NARUTO TURNED DOWN RAMEN! Okay, all doubts in Kakashi's mind about Naruto's feelings towards Hinata went out the window. Naruto has it BAD for Hinata…really bad, but by the way he hasn't asked her to be his girlfriend yet was strange. Naruto was really straight forward with these types of things, so why hadn't he made a move on Hinata? Well, an official move since this was an accidental move.

"Are you sure?" Hinata asked. Naruto nodded his head eagerly. "Okay, that sounds good." Hinata bashfully said with a bush gracing her pale face. Kakashi noted the blush for the fact that Naruto knew she likes cinnamon buns. The two young adults walked away towards the mentioned café, and thankfully for Kakashi, Naruto completely forgot that he was looking for him.

"Well, that was interesting." Kakashi said aloud. _Seems like Naruto is in love with Hinata…well that is very interesting…interesting enough to be the inspiration I needed for my book! _Kakashi thought as he began writing down notes for his new book, Icha Icha Nibui with his two new characters Himeka and Natsume. This was going to be a best seller…he could tell.  


* * *

**Me: Okay people I hope you enjoyed that Omake! Oh nibui means dense…  
Kakashi: Yes, it was a best seller…so glad I saw Naruto and Hinata that day.  
Me: Yeah well now who should I do next for the next Omake?  
Ino:  
Shikamaru: 2  
Choji:  
Kiba/Shino:  
Tsunade: 1  
Sai:  
Neji:  
Tenten:  
Lee:  
Gai:  
Kurenai: **

**Okay hope you enjoyed this chapter and please review! Oh and Merry Christmas (thought it already passed) and Happy New Year! **


	14. Ch 14: Finally Hokage

_**Ch. 14: Finally Hokage!**_

Konoha was bright with life and colors, seeing as the village was decorated festival style in honor of the inauguration of the new Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village. Children ran through the streets in their festival attire and smiles on their faces. The man who brought peace to the ninja world was finally claiming his rightful place as the Rokudaime Hokage, and nobody could be happier.

"SAKURA! There you are I have been looking everywhere for you!" Ino called out to her bubblegum haired friend. Sakura turned to face the loud blonde and waited for Ino to catch up with her.

"Hey, Ino. Where's Tenten? I thought she was going to meet us here." Sakura said as she scanned the roads for their brunette friend.

"Ah, don't worry. She is probably making out with Neji somewhere." Ino said as she wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.

"I heard that!" an annoyed voice called out to Ino. Sakura sweat dropped as Ino simply giggled. "I was not making out with Neji." Tenten said as she got to her friends. The three of them laughed as they linked arms going down the street.

"So then what were you doing, Tenten." Sakura asked. The Weapons Mistress blushed ever so slightly, but it did not go unnoticed by her two friends.

"HA! I KNEW IT!" Ino exclaimed causing Tenten to playfully punch her as she shushed her. "Hey, where is Hinata?" Ino said to change the subject. Tenten shrugged, but Sakura smiled an I-know-something-you-don't-know smile. "Spill, Billboard Brow!"

"Well, Ino-Pig, Hinata is at the Hokage office right now helping Tsunade and Shizune get Naruto ready." The girls squealed like high schoolers , and they did not care. They were adults, but they could have their childish moments. Tenten was the first to regain herself seeing as she was not much of a girly-girl until it came to someone's love life.

"Well, we should go find Temari, no?" Tenten offered. Ino shook her head.

"She is with Shikamaru right now, so I don't think she has the intention of leaving him to be with us since she hardly ever gets to see him." Ino answered.

"I don't see why he doesn't already propose. I mean he has been dating her longer than me and Sasuke have been going out…you would think that…" Sakura said.

"You and Uchiha just started going out like a few days ago!" Tenten said trying to burst Sakura's bubble causing Sakura to puff out her cheeks in annoyance.

"Hey there is everyone." Sakura said as she pointed ahead to the group of their friends.

"Well about time you girls got here." Kiba said when the girls got close enough.

"Kiba, do not irk the women with your demonstrating of the obvious." Shino said in his usual tone. Akamaru barked in accordance. Kiba sent a glare at his close friends, but smiled quickly after.

"Well now that everyone is here, I have some news that I think everyone would find interesting." Ino said. Everyone looked at her to see if they really wanted to know what she was going to say or if it was some meaningless gossip.

"Alright, Ino, what do you know?" Choji asked seeing that Ino had some valuable information that she was going to disclose with them.

"Well, I heard that Naruto is going to do some appointing today." Ino said vaguely.

"Just say it already." Shikamaru said.

"Troublesome." Temari said in her boyfriend's stead.

"That's my line." Shikamaru teasingly said to Temari who just smirked in response.

"He is going to give out new positions…for example the two new advisors." Ino said realizing she had everyone's attention now.

"Who do you think he will pick?" Neji asked in curiosity.

"Someone with the power of youth!" Lee added. Everyone rolled their eyes knowing that Lee would be saying that phrase a lot seeing as there was a lot of youth power in the air.

"Probably Kakashi…" Sai mumbled just loud enough for everyone to hear. Everyone seemed to nod in agreement.

"I heard he was going to do other positions as well. Like head medic." Ino said looking at Sakura.

"Ino, I am head medic." Sakura stated.

"That's not official and you know it. Everyone just says you are it because it's obvious that you are going to get that position." Ino said.

"That is true, Sakura." Sasuke said as he wrapped his arm around her waist. Sakura blushed at the unexpected contact, but welcomed it with a smile on her face. Tenten went up to Neji who took her hand in his, and the rest of the group began talking about how it would be like with Naruto as the Hokage.

* * *

"BAA-CHAN!" Naruto yelled down the hall trying to get Tsunade's attention.

"Quiet, Baka. I am really busy right now! Will you just relax!" Tsunade yelled in exasperation, but she understood Naruto's issue right now. Naruto was nervous. Who wouldn't be in his position? She knew that she was when she was inaugurated and without a doubt Naruto was going through the exact same thing she did, but Naruto needs to calm down by himself. He needs to find that one thing that will keep him grounded even when he his stressed to the max, just like she had to do.

"Tsunade-sama, is Naruto-kun in the office?" Hinata asked as she turned the corner to where Tsunade was. Tsunade smiled. She was looking right at the person who would keep Naruto grounded, and truth be told…she knew that Hinata was the best person for the job.

"He is. Can you calm him down? I have never seen him so flustered." Tsunade replied as she pointed to the office. Hinata bowed in respect and smiled as she headed out towards Naruto. She lightly knocked on the door.

"Come in." Naruto replied. Hinata took a deep breath and walked into the office. Naruto's back was facing her as he looked out the window behind the Hokage's desk. Hinata took a few steps in and Naruto turned around to face her with a sweet smile on his lips that made Hinata's heart skip a few beats. "Hey, Hinata-hime."

"Hello, Naruto-kun." Hinata responded as she gathered up her composure and walked towards the desk he stood behind.

"Can you believe that in a matter of hours this office will officially be mine?" Naruto asked as he looked around the room.

"Hai, I can. I always knew you would get here so it is no surprise to me." Hinata said softly, but Naruto heard her and broke out into a huge grin. Then an idea came to him.

"Hinata-hime."

"Hai?"

"I'll make a deal with you."

"A deal?"

"If everyone loves my speech you have to go on a romantic date with me." Naruto said with a slight blush and huge cocky smile on his face. Hinata turned red.

"What if no one does?" She asked being coy. Naruto's eyes widened in surprise, but smiled confidently.

"Then I will keep making deals with you until we do." Naruto said as he put his face mere inches away from Hinata's. Hinata was just about to say something when Tsunade bursts into the room.

"Gaki, it's time to go make your speech so get up there!" Tsunade commanded the blonde. Naruto gave Hinata one last look and smile before he walked out the door to head for the roof of the Hokage building. "Looks like he isn't feeling as nervous as before, good job, Hinata." Tsunade said as she left to follow the future Hokage. Hinata bowed and then left the room as well to go stand with her friends to watch Naruto achieve his dream.

* * *

"Citizens of Konoha and Esteemed Guests, we are gathered here today to acknowledge a great shinobi who has time and time again proven his love for Konoha. This man has impressed us all and has shown all that he has the ability and heart to be the new Hokage!" Tsunade began and everyone erupted into cheers. "Uzumaki Naruto, please step forward and accept the great honor of being Hokage!" Again applause broke out as Naruto made his appearance and the Hokage hat was placed on his head. "Show them what you got, Gaki." Tsunade whispered to Naruto when she finished placing the hat on his head.

Naruto moved towards the podium where Tsunade once stood, and cleared his throat. "Fellow Citizens and Guests, I thank you for coming here today and showing me your support. I would like to say a few words to you.

When I was young all I really wanted was respect. Everyone ignored me, beat me, or was mean to me, so I just wanted to be acknowledged. When I was old enough to enter the academy I realized that the way to get respect and be acknowledged was to become Hokage like Sarutobi Hiruzen, who was the Hokage at the time. When I shared this dream with me he told me that there was more to being Hokage than that. At first I thought that he didn't want me to be Hokage so I ignored him, but after everything that I have been through: completing the Academy, the Chuunin exams (twice), Orochimaru's invasion, bringing Tsunade to be Hokage, becoming a Toad Sage, fighting Pein, defeating the Akatsuki, bringing Uchiha Sasuke back, and many other experiences, I have come to a conclusion of what the Hokage title truly means. It does not mean you are the strongest ninja in the village and it certainly does not mean that you are superior. In fact, it means that you have decided to put the village first, that you will sacrifice your wellbeing for the village, and that you love your village so much that you would die to protect it. The Hokages that came before me gave everything of themselves for this village, and as the Rokudaime Hokage I swear that I will do the same. I love this village and will do anything to ensure that each and every one of our citizens and our allies are safe. I, Uzumaki Naruto, promise to protect everyone I can with everything that I have, and I don't go back on my word because that is my nindo, my ninja way. Thank-you." as soon as Naruto finished his speech everyone was clapping and cheering for the new Hokage.

"Nar-u-to, Nar-u-to, Nar-u-to!" the people began to chant for the new Hokage. Naruto smiled and pulled the microphone closet o him again.

"Hinata-hime." Naruto said and everyone still continued to chant, but Hinata's attention was on what Naruto was going to say next. "They liked my speech." He said smiling. Hinata giggled and thought as she blushed, _**Yes, they did, Naruto.**_

**

* * *

**

**Alright my readers this is the end of Book 1! Now the next chapter will begin Book 2! Here is the summary!**

_**Naruto and Hinata have been dating for a few months and Naruto is ready to pop the question, but complications with Hyuga politics and traditions might just stop Naruto's plans for a happy life with Hinata. What will Naruto do? Will he fight for Hinata or lose her forever?**_

**Now I know what some of you are thinking, in this fic Hiashi actually likes Naruto and wants NaruHina to happen, so how can there be Hyuga complications? MWAHAHAHA! You'll just have to wait and see!**

**Anyway the couple poll has ended! So the winning couples are:**

**KakaKure= Kakashi and Kurenai  
SaiIno= Sai and Ino  
IrukaAnko= Iruka and Anko**

**THANK YOU ALL WHO VOTED!**

**The other polls are still continuing though so here they are!**

**Kekkei Genkai: (Descriptions in previous chapters)  
Iyasugan: 7  
Kokorogan: 1  
Surugan: 6  
Heishigan: 11  
Just Byakugan: 2**

**As you all know I have been doing short Omake at the end of recent chapters about how different characters of Naruto discovered that Naruto loves Hinata, and the winner for this chapter is SHIKAMARU! **

**Also a shout out to ****Angelito soldado**** for giving me the idea for this Omake! Let the Omake begin! And don't forget to vote for the next Omake (poll at end of this Omake)**

**Shikamaru Omake**

Shikamaru walked slowly and aimlessly through the market district of Konoha after Choji cancelled going to their favorite barbeque place due to clan duties. Shikamaru could hear his empty stomach growl loudly and decided that he would go into the first food place he saw to get something to eat. Shikamaru brought his gaze down from the clouds to Ichiraku's, Naruto's favorite food place. He sighed as he walked into the stand.

"Hello, what can I get you?" Teuchi asked as Shikamaru sat on the stool.

"I'll have a barbeque pork ramen please." Shikamaru lazily asked. Now that he was by himself he could honestly say that he was glad Choji cancelled on him. He needed some alone time and this was a good day to get it since it was his day off. Ayame brought the ramen to Shikamaru.

"Itakimasu." Shikamaru said as he began to eat his food. However, two bites into his meal a loud and very familiar voice broke his tranquility.

"Hey, Old Man! Get me some Miso Ramen please!" Naruto yelled before even fully entering the stand.

"Sure thing, Naruto." Teuchi said as he began to prepare the order. Naruto sat down next to Shikamaru without even realizing he was there. Shikamaru silently hoped Naruto wouldn't notice, but his hopes were dashed when Naruto turned to face him.

"Hey, Shikamaru, didn't know you come here." Naruto said starting a conversation. Shikamaru sighed. He really did like Naruto, but he wanted to be left alone today, however, he was not about to be rude besides talking to Naruto could make him feel better.

"I normally don't but I decided to try it out."

"Well good thing you did! This place has the best ramen in the world!" Naruto bragged as Teuchi brought over Naruto's order. Naruto thanked him and began to devour his bowl and quickly ordered another. "What ramen did you get?"

"Barbeque pork."

"Ah~ that's a good one. I personally like Miso ramen."

"That's a good one too."

"You know what's great about ramen?" Naruto asked Shikamaru who shook his head no. "There are so many flavors one can choose from."

"That's true." Shikamaru nodded in agreement.

"I wonder what all the flavors mixed together would taste like?" Naruto mumbled to himself but just loud enough for Shikamaru to hear. "I wonder if Hinata-chan would like that…" Naruto trailed off. Shikamaru though choked a little on his food. He was not expecting to hear Naruto bring up Hinata._** Why would he just randomly think about her…unless…I have to see if I'm right.**_ Shikamaru thought.

"Why did you bring up Hinata?" Shikamaru bluntly asked. He deduced that the blunt approach would work the best with Naruto being that Naruto is blunt by nature, so it will be easier to test his theory. Naruto began slightly choking on ramen. The blonde pounded his chest in order to unclog his airway. Naruto's face turned bright red, but Shikamaru could not decipher if it was from the choking or the mentioning of Hinata.

"I...well…you see I...um…funny story…ah I took Hinata out for ramen yesterday, so since I am in the same place that I took her I thought of her. Hehe…" Naruto said. Shikamaru smirked and thanked Choji for cancelling because now he could have some fun with Naruto.

"Really? So you and Hinata are dating now?" Shikamaru asked smoothly. Naruto blushed slightly before answering.

"No! I accidently fell on top of her when I tripped over a branch as I was looking for Kakashi-sensei, and I felt bad for doing that so I took her to ramen to make it up to her." Naruto said lamely. Shikamaru had no doubt that Naruto was telling the truth, but the way he said the story seemed more like an excuse to cover up why he was thinking about Hinata. Shikamaru smiled, he got Naruto.

"Sure." Shikamaru said in an unbelieving tone, which caused Naruto to be even more flustered to the point he began to frantically wave his arms like he used to do when he was younger. If that was not enough proof to support Shikamaru's hypothesis then he didn't know what would be.

"Really!" Naruto said trying to get Shikamaru to believe him. Shikamaru silently chuckled before finishing the last of his ramen.

"Right and I only think of Temari as a friend." Shikamaru said sarcastically. Naruto's jaw dropped. Everyone knew that Shikamaru and Temari have been dating for years now and there was no way that Shikamaru thought Temari was just a friend. At least there was no way because of the way he talked about her sometimes. Naruto blushed quickly got up.

"Eh…erm…well, Shikamaru, it's been fun but I got to…got to…clean my kunais! Yeah that good…I mean bye!" Naruto said as he dashed out of the stand after paying for his bowls. Shikamaru began to laugh at how horrible of an escape that was.

_**My hypothesis is correct. Naruto loves Hinata, but has no idea that he does. Troublesome.**_

* * *

**Here are the choices for the next Omake:**

**Ino:  
Choji:  
Kiba/Shino:  
Tsunade: **1**  
Sai:  
Neji: **1**  
Tenten: **1**  
Lee:  
Gai:  
Kurenai:** 2

**Okay well until next time hope you enjoy this chapter!**


	15. Book 2 Ch 1: The Next Step

**Hello everyone! It's me Lexar letting you all know that this is Book 2 of I Need You! There will be two new OC characters that are very important to the story so I just figured that I introduce them now that way there will be no confusion when reading Book 2! Alright here we go!**

**Name:** Hyuga Hisao (Hisao: long-lived) **  
Sex: **Male**  
Status:** Hyuga Elder Leader (different from Clan Head)**  
Info:** Husband of Chie, father of Hiashi and Hizashi, and grandfather of Hinata, Hanabi, and Neji. He is very reserved and the epitome of a Hyuga. He is very old fashioned and so are his views. He opposes any type of change and knows Hyuga laws forwards and backwards.

**Name: **Hyuga Chie (Chie: wisdom)**  
Sex:** Female**  
Status:** Hyuga Elder**  
Info: ** Wife of Hisao, mother of Hiashi and Hizashi, and grandmother of Hinata, Hanabi, and Neji. She is very wise and is the only Hyuga woman on the council do to this. She is warm-hearted but reserved, and was the only Hyuga to not see Hinata as a failure when Hinata was younger.

**Now that they are introduced let's get started with Book 2!

* * *

**

_**Ch. 1: The Next Step**_

The sun shone brightly in the crystal blue skies with a few cumulous clouds floating on the light breeze on the warm day. Naruto smiled as he opened the window in his office and took in a deep inhalation of fresh air. He sighed as he looked around. It had been five blissful months of being Hokage, but more importantly, of dating Hinata. He put his hand inside his Hokage jacket, which Hinata made him, and fingered the velvet box that held the symbol of the ultimate promise he would make to her. He smiled yet again at the concept of Hyuuga Hinata becoming Uzumaki Hinata. It was a very good thought.

"Boss, here some more paper work for you to do." A familiar voice said through the door. Naruto growled at the concept of paperwork. He honestly saw no point to it, and now understood why Tsunade hid a bottle of sake in her desk.

"Yeah come on in, Konohamaru." Naruto yelled so the young man on the other side of the door could hear him. Naruto appointed Konohamaru to be his assistant, which was the same position Shizune held while Tsunade was Hokage, that way when Konohamaru became Hokage, he would not need the awkward transition phase that Naruto had to endure while Tsunade trained him to be Hokage. Naruto appointed other people to higher up positions as well.

Sakura became (officially) Head Medic in the hospital, Ino took over Ibiki's job, Shikamaru and Kakashi became the new Hokage advisors in place of the two old farts that Tsunade had to deal with. Shikamaru was, albeit, not thrilled to take the position, but he eventually said that it would be too troublesome not to take the position since Naruto would annoy him until he did. Kakashi accepted the position with the thinking that he will not have to go on so many missions and could now spend time with his new family.

That's right Kakashi was now a father (well adopted father) to Sarutobi Asuka. Asuka adores Kakashi and shows it at every opportunity possible in his five-year-old way. Kakashi adores the boy as well much to Kurenai's delight. Naruto was truly happy for the three of them as was everyone. Team Asuma had to adjust to it because it felt like Kurenai was forgetting Asuma, but she assured them that she was not doing such a thing and in fact intended to have Asuka keep Sarutobi as his surname. After that everything was getting back to normal. Well, not quite…

"WHAT IS SASUKE-TEME THINKING!" Naruto yelled when he read the first sheet of paperwork. Konohamaru shrugged.

"I don't know. Want me to ask him?" Konohamaru suggested. Naruto nodded as Konohamaru disappeared to get Sasuke. Now where was he? Oh right…

Tenten and Neji got engaged last month, Sasuke was planning on asking Sakura soon, Ino and Sai finally started dating, Temari is dropping major hints for Shikamaru to pop the question but he is too lazy to actually do that, Konohamaru is dating Hanabi (thanks to Naruto's amazing match-making skills), Iruka married Anko (did not see that one coming at all), and that's pretty much it.

"You asked for me, Hokage-dono?" Sasuke said in a formal tone that Naruto was not used to hearing from the Uchiha. Naruto nodded at Konohamaru to leave the two of them alone, and Konohamaru bowed as he left the two.

"What is with this?" Naruto asked as he held the document to Sasuke's face.

"A paper." Sasuke answered with a smirk on his face.

"Don't be a smart ass, Teme. Why do you want to resign your post as captain of the ANBU?"

"I want to do something else." Sasuke asked as he pulled out a form to show Naruto. Naruto quickly scanned the paper.

"You want to renovate the Uchiha section of Konoha? Why?" Naruto asked truly intrigued with his friend's odd request.

"I want to take down the houses their and build an Uchiha Estate for me and my future family, and I want to reinstate the Police force that the Uchiha's were in charge of." Sasuke said hoping he would get permission. He never once thought that Naruto would refuse him, but now that he stood in front of Naruto who was scrutinizing the paper with a furrowed brow, he was not as sure anymore.

"Konohamaru!" Naruto yelled and the brown spiky-haired kid with his trademark scarf popped his head through the door.

"Yeah?"

"Can you get Sai?" Konohamaru nodded and went to get the painter. Sasuke sent a questioning look to Naruto, but the blonde hadn't notice since returned his attention to the document in front of him. Sasuke was about to open his mouth when Naruto interrupted.

"You know, I'm gonna ask Hinata to marry me." He said off-topic.

"Really when?" Sasuke asked.

"I don't know. I need to think of a way to ask her first, and even before that I have to ask her dad for permission first. That's how it's done, right?" Naruto asked looking up at Sasuke. Sasuke often forgot that Naruto really had no one to teach him about relationships or love or really anything of that sort since he is an orphan.

"That is the proper way to do it; though a lot of people forgo that tradition." answered in a big-brother tone.

"Well, since the Hyugas are very tradition oriented, I probably should do that part, ne?"

"Hai." Sasuke said as Konohamaru returned with Sai. Sai bowed when Naruto greeted him.

"Sai I have some news for you." Naruto started. Sasuke was getting annoyed because Naruto forgot about his request, and the Uchiha was about to interrupt and let the Hokage have it when Naruto interrupted him again. "You are now the Captain of the ANBU." Sai's expression did not change.

"I see. Thank-you, Hokage-dono, for this great honor." Sai said bowing. He looked at Sasuke and smiled brighter as he left the room.

"Okay, Sasuke. I'm going to let you do this, but I expect reports about the progress of your police station since I know the council is going to want to hear about it, and I know you won't shirk your duties while building all this."

"Oh course, Hokage. Thanks, Naruto-dobe." Sasuke said with a rare grateful smile on his face.

"Anytime, Sasuke-teme, you're gonna need a place to live when you marry Sakura, no?" Naruto asked with a mischievous smile on his face. Sasuke blushed slightly but glared daggers at Naruto. Naruto simply laughed his famous mischievous laugh as Sasuke left the room cursing Naruto under his breath. Naruto chuckled and went back to the obnoxious paper work that stood before him. It was not his idea of a good time, but things need to be done in order to properly run the village to the best of the Hokage's abilities.

* * *

"That Uzumaki boy is a threat to the Hyuuga order!" a very old version of Hiashi yelled in aggravation at a elder Hyuga woman who simply shook her head at her husband's anger.

"How is he doing that, Hisao? He is only dating your granddaughter. There is nothing threatening about that. In fact, it is an honor to have someone from the Main Branch dating the Hokage. I can also tell that they won't be dating for long either." The woman said with an insightful tone. Hisao looked at his wife who had her long gray hair tied in a low tight bun with finely decorated chopsticks that matched her pale blue kimono .

"What do you mean, Chie?" Hisao asked hoping that this would signify the couple's break-up.

"I see the way he looks at her; he has full intention of marrying our Hinata. That will do wonders for the Hyuga standing in society. So just let this happen."

"NO! You saw that Uzumaki boy the day of the Chuunin exams when he defeated Neji!"

"Yes I did, dear. What is your point?"

"He promised Neji that he would change the Hyuga, and I cannot allow that! This style of living, this division of Main Branch and Side Branch is for the good of everyone! I cannot allow the destruction of that; not even if it is by the Hokage." Hisao said as he sat down to attempt to calm done. He was showing such anger that it even surprised himself. He could not let the traditions go to waste just because of a childish promise that he could see that the Hokage had full intention of keeping. The elder sat down to think of a way to end the relationship of Hinata and Naruto without causing any political problems.

"And how do you propose to do that, Dear Husband?" Chie said as she let out an exasperated sigh. The man was stubborn that was for sure, and this was not the time to be stubborn. "Hiashi is the Clan Head now, not you. There is nothing you can do."

"Oh but there is." Hisao said as his face darkened with a conniving look on his face. He left the room briskly leaving behind his wife with a terrible sinking feeling in her stomach. She knew her husband well, and he will not rest until his way was the only way possible.

"Poor Hinata-chan, I hope that you are ready to handle your grandfather's plans." Chie sighed as she made some herbal tea to calm herself. She would have to warn Hinata about what her grandfather was planning, but at the moment she had no idea where the heiress was. She would have to get Hinata alone in order to properly warn her, but for now she would enjoy her tea. Mmmm…tea.

* * *

Hello my faithful readers! I am soooooooo sorry that it has taken me so long to update! I really did not mean to make it almost a year before I updated! And here I promised myself I wouldn't be that type of author… **sweatdrop**

I do have reasons for it taken so long…school got crazy, then came graduation (I'm officially a high school graduate), and then I tried to hang out with friends and family as much as possible, and then I had college orientation, and now I am in college Also this is not even mentioning my computer problems that also prevented me from updating. My dear little brother got a nasty virus on my computer that basically killed it, then I got it fixed and started working on my stories. Then my dad got this Cloud Care thing that is supposed to block bad sites and it blocked this site! Then my computer didn't turn on properly and was having even more troubles! But now everything is good because I have a new computer! So I will be updating whenever I can but no promises that it will be often because I am now in college and I need to study study!

I hope you all enjoy this chapter and please review! I love getting reviews because they motivate me to write :D

Lexar


	16. Book 2 Ch 2: Girl Talk

_**Ch. 2: Girl Talk**_

* * *

__"It's been so long since it has been just us girls!" Ino cried out as she took a sip of her drink. Hinata nodded in agreement. The two were currently in a little restaurant waiting for their other friend, but they knew she would be late. The Yamanaka and the Hyuga talked for a bit before their missing friend made her entrance. "Ah, Sakura, there you are! Way to make us wait, Billboard-brow! Get over here!" Sakura sighed and made her way over to her two friends. She looked pale and worried, and it seemed like she was sick.

"Sakura-chan, are you feeling well?" Hinata asked as she looked at her friend with concern evident in her eyes.

"Eh? Oh, of course. Just that last shift in the hospital was a killer." Sakura said as she picked up her menu to order. Ino looked at her in confusion.

"Sakura, Tsunade gave you the day off." Ino replied.

"Ah, that's right…I was just helping out cause they were short." Sakura replied.

"Sakura, you are a horrible liar. Just tell us what's wrong. We'll listen." Ino answered with a smile.

"Hai, she is right." Hinata said as she placed her hand on Sakura's hand in a reassuring way. Sakura nodded as tears threaten to spill over. Ino quickly grabbed a napkin to catch the tears that were falling from Sakura's emerald eyes.

"Well, I had a doctor's appointment a today…You see I haven't been feeling well lately, so I decided to get check up." Sakura said before she blew her nose with the napkin Ino gave her. She took a deep breath before continuing. "The doctor said he knew what was wrong…"

"What did he say?" Ino and Hinata asked in unison. Sakura mumbled the answer, but neither Hinata or Ino could hear her.

"Could you please speak a bit louder?" Hinata asked politely. Sakura whispered it a bit louder but not loud enough for Ino or Hinata to understand what she was saying.

"OUT WITH IT, BILLBOARD-BROW!" Ino yelled in frustration.

"I'M PREGNANT, INO-PIG!" Sakura yelled back in equal frustration. The two girls gave each other a stare down before what Sakura said sunk in.

"Oh if that's all…wait…NANI?" Ino yelled back at Sakura.

"Congratulations, Sakura-chan. I'm sure you and Sasuke-kun must be thrilled." Hinata said with a blush on her cheeks due to being embarrassed for her friends outburst in a public area.

"Yeah, the Uchiha must be going around Konoha telling everyone the Uchiha Clan is being repopulated." Ino said with a smirk on her face.

"I haven't told him yet…" Sakura mumbled.

"What? You haven't? WHY THE HELL NOT?" Ino yelled.

"Ino-chan, people are staring…" Hinata whispered to Ino. Ino looked around and glared at everyone with her robin egg colored eyes as she sat with a "humph."

"How can I tell him? We aren't even married or even engaged." Sakura answered.

"So? Just tell him. I highly doubt he will leave you cause you are pregnant." Ino countered.

"I know that." Sakura answered.

"So what's the problem then?" Ino asked. Hinata nodded in agreement with Ino's question. Sakura sighed before looking at her two best friends.

"What if he proposes…"

"Isn't that what you want?" Ino asked with slight annoyance.

"Of course it is! But not if he is doing it because I'm carrying his kid! I want him to propose to me because he loves me!" Sakura exclaimed in exasperation. Hinata nodded compassionately. She could understand that. Ino rolled her eyes at Sakura.

"So what are you going to do?" Ino asked clearly annoyed at Sakura.

"I don't know. I mean I am only three months in so it won't show for a while…"

"You're not gonna tell him at all? It's gonna be hard to do that when nine months later there is a brat running around talking about revenge…" Ino said sharply.

"Ino-chan! Be a little more considerate. Though, Sakura-chan, I am with Ino-chan on this. You should tell Sauske-kun about this. He deserves to know." Hinata said with a reassuring smile.

"Thanks, Hinata. I know you guys are right, but I just can't bring myself to do it…but I promise I will soon. I just have to wait for the right moment."

"Alright…I'll accept that, Sakura." Ino said as she began to dig into her salad.

"Accept what?" a new voice said, startling the three kunoichi.

"Ah, Tenten-chan, you scared us!" Hinata practically screamed out. Tenten chuckled as she pulled up a chair. "So how have you been?"

"Well pretty good. I have my five-month check up today. I'm going to find out the sex of the baby!" Tenten said all giddy.

"I bet it's a boy. Neji must be happy." Sakura said with a smile. Tenten smiled brighter.

"Yes, he is ecstatic!"

"I can't imagine Neji showing any type of emotion…" Ino whispered to Sakura who merely giggled.

"Do you have any names picked out?" Hinata asked.

"Yup! If it's a boy: Nobuki, and if it's a girl: Tenshi." Tenten replied.

"Oh how cute! Sakura have you thought of any names?" Ino asked without thinking.

"INO!" Sakura exclaimed blushing.

"Sakura, you're pregnant too? Wow Sauske must be happy. The Uchiha Clan can now repopulate!" Tenten said the last part teasingly.

"That's what I said! But she hasn't told him yet."

"You should tell him soon. Take it from me." Tenten said.

"But your situation is different. You are already married to him!" Sakura whined.

"By the way thanks for inviting me to the wedding…"Ino grumbled out.

"We eloped!" Tenten said in her defense.

"Hinata got to go!" Ino retorted.

"I was just there as a witness…" Hinata meekly replied knowing it would do nothing to soothe Ino. There was nothing that could soothe Ino from missing out on a wedding.

"Neji and I are not big on ceremonies. I like being eloped. It was perfect for us." Tenten said.

"I WANTED TO PLAN THE WEDDING!" Ino yeled.

"If I get married, Ino-chan, you can plan my wedding…"Hinata said to appease Ino before the four of them would be kick out of the restaurant from making such a scene.

"Really, Hinata?" Hinata nodded to Ino. Ino squealed in excitement and hugged Hinata tightly. "This is why you are my favorite!"

"Hey, Hinata, isn't that Ko?" Tenten said as she pointed to Hinata's caretaker who stood awkwardly looking for her at the entrance of the resturant..

"Yes, that is. Please excuse me." Hinata got up and headed over to Ko. "Ko-san, is there something wrong?" Hinata asked concerned.

"I'm not sure, Hinata-sama, but you grandmother has requested for your presence."

"Obaa-sama? I'll be right there." Hinata said as she quickly returned to her friends.

"Everything ok, Hinata?" Saukra asked.

"I'm not sure, but I have to go. It was nice seeing you all. We should do this again sometime." Hinata said as she quickly and somehow gracefully made her exit from the restaurant and bolted to the Hyuga Estate.

"Well I hope everything is fine." Ino said in a worried tone. All three women nodded as they continued to eat their meals.

* * *

**HEY EVERYONE! I'm back and ready to start updating! College sucked the all my free time but now I got it back :) so I hope you all liked this chapter. It was a bit of a boring one but it sets up for some of the conflicts that will be happening in Book 2! So as a recap:**

**-Sakura is preggers and not engaged or married to Sasuke**  
**-Tenten is preggers and married to Neji**

**-Naruto is Hokage and wants to propose to Hinata**

**-Chie (Hinata's Grandmother) wants to warn Hinata of what her grandfather (Hisao) is planning**

**But what is Hisao planning? WHO KNOWS? Oh wait…I do :)  
**

* * *

**Omake**

"Shino…what are we doing?" Kiba whined as he followed his silent teammate with Akamaru trailing behind him. Shino didn't say a word, which was not surprising at all. Kiba sighed as he continued to follow his teammate through the training grounds.

"Wow, Hinata-chan, that was really awesome!" a very familiar voice yelled. Kiba looked at Shino.

"Was that Naruto? Well it does smell like him, but there is something different about his smell…" Kiba said not really paying attention to see if Shino answered him.

"Really? I was n-nervous…"Hinata answered.

"Eh? But you're like a pro!" Naruto reassured her.

"It wasn't t-too r-rough?" She asked.

Kiba could feel the blood rushing to his face. What the hell were they doing at the training fields? Kiba couldn't hear Naruto's response to Hinata…well it was more like he didn't want to hear it. Kiba looked to see how Shino was reacting to this…umm…what was this? Shino looked as stoic as usually. Kiba let out a frustrated sigh. Akamaru perked up and Kiba knew exactly why. Kiba knew that smell that was lingering around Naruto that he couldn't identify before. He was "in the mood." Kiba blushed. He knew that smell because it is a similar one to when its breeding season for the dogs back at the Inuzuka household, but Naruto was having it with…_**OH MY GOD, HINATA!**_ Kiba ran into the field to save his precious teammate from having her innocence taken away from her.

"E-eh, Kiba-kun?" Hinata asked flustered. Kiba looked at her and was confused. She was fully clothed and looked like she had simply been training. He glared at Naruto and saw a similar appearance.

"What's wrong, Dog-breathe?" Naruto asked in a teasing tone.

"U-uh…" was the only thing he could muster to say. He knew that scent from before, but he couldn't have been wrong. There was no way!

"We were just passing by to train. What about you two?" Shino said saving Kiba from saying something embarrassing.

"We were just training. Hinata-chan was just showing me a new jutsu she made. It was really awesome but a little rough. Y'know since she just started working on it, but if she keeps it up it will be smooth." Naruto said with a grin that was as wide as his face.

"Well, we should get going. Come on, Kiba." Shino said as Kiba followed dumbly behind. When the two were out of ear shot, Kiba opened his mouth to speak, but for once, Shino beat him to it. "You are not completely wrong, Kiba. But I think you misinterpreted the situation, grievously so. It seems that Naruto has developed feelings for Hinata." Shino said.

"Wha-?" was all Kiba could respond with.

"You may have your olfactory skills and Akamaru's as well, but my bugs are just as astute. They deduced that what you must have been smelling are Naruto's hormones that were working over time due to his attraction to Hinata, but my bugs were able to pick up that it was not just merely a physical attraction. Naruto seems to be in love with Hinata." Shino said. Kiba just stared at him dumbly.

"That is the most you have ever said at once, Shino!" Kiba explained. Shino merely glared at the Inuzuka from behind his sunglasses as he began to shake his head in wonder as to how he puts up with this. "Relax, Shino. I got what you said. So I guess the Baka doesn't know his feelings for Hinata ?"

"What makes you think that?" Shino asked out of curiosity.

"Well when Naruto knew he liked Sakura he kept asking her on dates and stuff like that, but he hasn't done that with Hinata." Kiba said. Shino nodded indicating that Kiba was right. Kiba smirked. "I'll tell you one thing, if that baka hurts Hinata in anyway, Akamaru and I will tear him a new one."

"Arf!" Akamaru said in agreement. Shino nodded showing that he had no problem with this. The three of them continued to the next training field in order to get some training in before dark.

* * *

**Alright so that's how Kiba and Shino found out how Naruto liked Hinata. Not my best but oh well…I feel like it was funnier in my head. Anyway please vote for who you would like to see found out about Naruto's feelings next!**

**Ino:**  
**Tsunade:**2**  
Neji: **1**  
Tenten: **2**  
Lee: **1**  
Kurenai:** 3

**Please review :)**


End file.
